Washington Examiner: President Obama’s manufactured airport delays

As President Obama’s sequester continues to take hold, the FAA has begun furloughing air traffic control workers at airports across the country. But, the kicker is that that it didn’t have to be this way. Instead of trying to find ways to make the sequester cuts as painful as possible to score political points, Obama could have re-prioritized millions in spending to offset the cuts.

Via Conn Carroll at the Washington Examiner:

Problem, not only does the FAA have enough money to pay all their scheduled on-duty air traffic controllers, even after the sequester they actually have more money then they requested for 2013.
 
Here are the facts: President Obama’s 2013 FAA Budget Request asked for just $15.172 billion. But Congress gave them an extra $1.1 billion for the Grants-in-Aid for Airports program, bringing their total 2013 funding to $16.668 billion. Then the sequester lopped off $669 million in FAA funding, leaving them with $15.999 billion.
 
But that $15.999 billion is more money than they originally asked for to run the entire agency! In other words, if Obama wanted to, he could re-purpose the Grants-in-Aid money he never wanted, and use it to keep 100 percent of the air traffic controllers on-duty. If Obama believes he does not have the discretion to do this, he could easily ask Congress for it. The Republicans would gladly give it to him.
 
But the entire point of sequestration is to inflict pain on Republicans. So don’t look for Obama to exercise his discretion to prevent airport delays anytime soon.

It’s a pretty cynical move by Obama and it’s American travelers who will feel the pinch.