Senate Trying to Fix Airport Budget Cut Debacle

Some Senate Democrats broke rank yesterday and started working on legislation that would provide a quick fix to the rampant flight delays the sequester budget cuts have inflicted on travelers. Right now, the FAA is applying the across-the-board cuts, well, across-the-board, furloughing air traffic controllers at busy and remote airports at an equal rate, the Wall Street Journal explains. Some Republicans accused the White House of deliberately gumming up the works, the LA Times reports; Susan Collins called it a "manufactured crisis."

One bipartisan bill introduced yesterday would let the FAA administer the cuts more strategically, while Kirsten Gillibrand proposed undoing the cuts entirely and eliminating the corporate jet tax break to pay for it. Harry Reid and President Obama want to push to repeal all the sequester cuts instead, but the White House yesterday said it was "open to looking" at an FAA-specific fix, the AP reports. "But that would be a Band-Aid measure," Jay Carney cautioned. (More sequester stories.)