Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I met with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week to discuss sequestration and how it will affect our national aviation network. Sequestration will reduce the FAA's budget by approximately $600 million in the middle of this fiscal year. The Administrator told me this swift and sudden reduction in funding will have serious consequences to the efficiency of our national aviation system, especially in Illinois. Airport managers throughout the State of Illinois have also registered their serious concerns about the sequestration impact on commercial and general aviation.

The FAA will have to severely reduce service or completely close approximately 180 air traffic control towers across the country. Nine air traffic control towers in Illinois will have their service either eliminated or severely reduced: Alton, Aurora, Bloomington-Normal, Decatur, DuPage, Carbondale, Marion, Springfield and Waukegan. The FAA has also said that overnight air traffic control service at Peoria and Midway airports could be eliminated. These are serious steps that will increase delays, reduce capacity and potentially compromise the safety of the airspace in the areas surrounding these airports.

I will continue to monitor this situation and will work with the FAA and airport managers throughout the State of Illinois to address aviation safety and air traffic delays.

However, the aviation system is not the only harm sequestration will have on this country. The White House estimates sequestration will reduce the readiness of our troops; put up to 10,000 veterans at substantial risk of becoming homeless; drop 70,000 children from Head Start, including 2,700 from Illinois; take nutritional assistance away from 600,000 families because of cuts to WIC; and reduce foreclosure prevention and other counseling to 75,000 fewer households.

Many Republicans have said they are comfortable with allowing sequestration to continue. They think no one will notice what sequestration does to the country. I disagree. These sequestration cuts will have real impact on real people in Illinois. We need to stop sequestration with a balanced solution of budget cuts and revenue. I am pleased we will soon start debating the budget resolution. Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray has produced a budget that will stop sequestration and the negative impacts it will have on our economy, our troops and working families across America.

Source