Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said he would support “whatever level of money is necessary” to fix the U.S. air traffic control system after the nationwide ground stop on Friday following Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s plea for more funds.
“The American people need an air transportation system that is safe but also reliable; and what happened the other day is unacceptable,” Van Hollen said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “I will support whatever level of money is necessary to fix this problem. We should fix this problem on a bipartisan basis.”
Van Hollen was asked about Duffy’s Friday request for $50 billion in emergency funding from Congress to rehabilitate the nation’s air traffic control system. The Maryland senator, who is challenging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to be the chamber’s next majority leader, called it “rich” that Duffy’s reaction was to “point fingers and blame Congress.”
“In fact, Congress has met the Trump administration’s requests, and it was Republicans who, in their so-called big beautiful bill, put in the $12.5 billion, of which they’ve only spent one-third. So it’s really rich to hear the secretary pointing the fingers at Congress when Congress has given the administration what they ask for,” Van Hollen said.
“If they need more, they should come up and justify it. I will support what is necessary to have a safe system and a reliable system,” Van Hollen continued.
ROOT CAUSE OF NATIONWIDE GROUND STOP STILL UNKNOWN, DUFFY SAYS
President Donald Trump addressed the issue on Truth Social on Sunday, saying Congress “must approve” the funds and blaming the Biden administration for setting the air traffic control system “back years.”
“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of our current air control system is 50 years old – RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs,” Trump wrote.