›› Ted Cruz, Sheila Jackson Lee differ on air traffic control plan.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system was met with starkly contrasting views Monday by two high-profile Houston lawmakers.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who took part in Monday’s rollout at the White House, shook hands with Trump and praised the initiative, which has long been supported by the airline industry.
“I am grateful this administration has been eager and willing to reduce the burden of federal regulations and mismanaged bureaucracy on a variety of America’s core industries,” Cruz said in a statement. “The aerospace and aviation industry directly provides over 130,000 Texans with good paying jobs. … It’s time that we stop leading from behind and allow American innovation in our nation’s aviation sector to spur economic activity, increase safety, lower costs, and enable more travel options for consumers.”
Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, former chairwoman of a House transportation security subcommittee, expressed concern.
“Air traffic controllers are essential to commercial aviation security and the proposal just announced by the Trump Administration raises serious questions regarding security at our nation’s airports,” she said. “I am concerned that privatization would lead to mass firings and the degradation of the work conditions crucial for maintaining the viability of the air traffic control system.”
Trump’s move would privatize the job of tracking and guiding airplanes, a task that currently falls under the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Today we’re proposing to take American air travel into the future, finally,” Trump said. He added that the current system is “stuck, painfully, in the past.”
Executives from United, Delta and American Airlines were on hand as the president announced his plan.
“I fear the ultimate goal of the president’s plan is to issue a big check to one of his corporate friends,” Jackson Lee said.
Backers of the plan say the proposal would create a private, nonprofit corporation to operate and manage the air traffic control system nationwide.
It would be governed by a board made up largely of airline representatives, though the FAA would still have some oversight.
Cruz said the new independent air traffic control system would be more modern and efficient. “With millions of Texans who travel by plane, this modernization is essential to improving quality of travel and providing more affordable and better travel options,” he said.