Trump seeks to privatize U.S. system
President pursues congressional OK for plan to modernize an operation that he says is ‘broken, antiquated, horrible’
President Donald Trump said Monday that the nation’s air-traffic-control system needed a modern makeover and urged Congress to approve a privatization plan that he said would increase safety and reduce wait times for passengers. Dismissing the current system as an anachronism, Trump said the air-traffic-control operations needed to be separated from the Federal Aviation Administration, an approach that U.S. airlines have long championed. But opponents worry that the plan, which would require congressional approval, will give too much power to the airlines. “We live in a modern age yet our air-traffic-control system is stuck, painfully, in the past,” Trump said, noting the FAA had been working to upgrade the system for years. “But after billions and billions of tax dollars spent and the many years of delays, we’re still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesn’t work.”
“It means Trump tolls from one end of America to the other.” Sen. Charles Schumer, D -N.Y.
As President Trump braces for potentially explosive congressional testimony this week from ex-FBI director James Comey, the White House on Monday kicked off a weeklong promotion of various infrastructure proposals, starting with a long-shot plan to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system.
Hailing “a great new era in American aviation,” Trump said his plan would reduce the number of flight delays and wait times that cost consumers millions of dollars. “We live in a modern age,” Trump said during a ceremony at White House, “but our air traffic control system is stuck, painfully, in the past.”
While specifics on how to upgrade the nation’s roads and bridges are still being developed, Trump on Monday said he would urge Congress to put the nation’s air traffic control system in private hands. It calls for creating a private, non-profit corporation, with airlines contributing fees rather than the taxes they now pay the government to cover the approximately $10 billion annual cost for air-traffic control.
“After billions and billions of tax dollars spent, and the many years of delays, we’re still stuck with an ancient, broken, antiquated, horrible system that doesn’t work,” Trump said. “Other than that it’s quite good.”
In the coming days, Trump and other administration officials will call on states, cities and private companies to pay more for rebuilding roads, bridges, railways, airports and other types of infrastructure. The schedule includes meetings with members of Congress, a Wednesday speech in Cincinnati, and an “infrastructure summit” Thursday with governors and mayors at the White House.
Some Democratic lawmakers said Trump doesn’t have an infrastructure plan. Sen. Brian Schatz, D -Hawaii, said in a tweet that Trump “is NOT proposing money for infrastructure. It’s tax cuts for financiers, privatizing public property. Not infrastructure.”
And the Senate’s top Democrat, Charles Schumer, D -N.Y., said Trump’s infrastructure ideas boil down to “privatization,” which means “less construction and far fewer jobs, particularly in rural areas. It means Trump tolls from one end of America to the other.”
Thursday is also the day Comey is set to testify before Congress, a high-profile event likely to center on the ongoing investigation into links between Trump’s presidential campaign last year and Russians who sought to influence the election by hacking Democrats.
In firing Comey last month, Trump cited performance issues, while critics accused him of interfering with the Russia investigation. The Justice Department later appointed ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation.
Associates of Comey said the former director kept notes of his conversations with Trump, including of a February meeting in which the president asked Comey to lay off an ongoing investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — a topic that is sure to come up at the hearing.
Trump, meanwhile, reportedly told Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting that Comey was a “nut job,” and that his dismissal would help get the Russia issue behind him.
Moving air-traffic control out of the Federal Aviation Administration has been debated periodically since the 1990s, but never approved by Congress.
Trump’s principles seek to improve legislation approved in 2016 in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that never got a vote in the full House or Senate. The debate resumed as part of renewing FAA legislation that expires Sept. 30.
Hearings are scheduled Wednesday in the Senate and Thursday in the House.