WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has warned of imminent closings at air-traffic-control towers amid airport-worker furloughs, but there are other ways to comply with onerous budget cuts, says a GOP senator.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) wants the administration to start by nixing an upcoming conference on Asia-Pacific flight standards, while trimming spending from other travel programs.
Among Coburn’s other proposed targets and potential savings, according to a letter he wrote to the Transportation Department yesterday, were:
* Consultants, supplies and travel ($105 million).
* Airport-improvement grants ($926 million).
* Funding for private airports ($41 million).
* The hiring of nonessential employees, including community planners who earn $129,000 a year.
* Service to tiny towns ($6 million).
Among airports getting federal cash is the privately held Montauk Airport, located just steps from the beach. It got $150,000 last year, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
“Before considering cuts to essential services, I would encourage the administration to first cancel all upcoming conferences, freeze all nonessential hiring, reconsider cuts to private control towers and reduce funding for several low-priority programs before cutting costs that could impact flight safety,” Coburn wrote Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Last month, LaHood said the feds would have to cut about $1 billion because of the budget sequester.
“The vast majority of FAA’s nearly 47,000 employees will be furloughed for approximately one day per pay period until the end of the fiscal year, and in some cases it could be as many as two days,” he said.