Tom Cole Emphasizes The Need To Increase Graduation Rates Of The Air Traffic Control Training Academy

Forbes Breaking News

During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) spoke about FAA air traffic controller training.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Clyburn. We are joined today by the overall chairman of the House Appropriations Committee,

00:06my good friend Tom Cole, even though he's still writhing a little bit in pain

00:10from a pair of very difficult losses by the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend in baseball and softball,

00:17though your gymnastics program is still world class.

00:22Thunder looks pretty good, too.

00:23And thunder's not bad, yeah.

00:24So thank you, Mr. Chairman, for joining us today, and I'll recognize you for any opening comments you'd like to make.

00:30Well, thank you, and since you brought up an unrelated matter,

00:33I just want to explain those two untimely losses by our OU women.

00:38We have won the World Series four consecutive times.

00:41Of course, it's hosted in Oklahoma City.

00:44And so we got the team together and said, you know, if we win every year, they're just going to quit coming.

00:50So maybe we need to lighten up, let somebody else slip through once,

00:54and then you young ladies, because it's a pretty new team, six new starters out of nine.

00:58We graduated a class that had won the championship every single year they were in college.

01:03But so, you know, we're going to let Texas Tech or Texas enjoy one, and then they'll come back.

01:09And we'll start all over again.

01:11So, but thank you.

01:12I'm awfully proud of those young women.

01:14They are amazing.

01:16First, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

01:18I appreciate it, Chairman Womack.

01:20And thank you, Ranking Member Clyburn.

01:22Welcome, Administrator Rocheloup.

01:24And thank you for coming for us today.

01:26And honestly, for your decades of public service in uniform and, you know, as a career civil servant as well.

01:33We appreciate it in the private sector, but you've been around aviation for a long time.

01:37Done a lot of great things for our country.

01:39And I think you were a superb appointment.

01:41As we start the fiscal year, Mr. Administrator, I'm focused on providing effective fiscal support to the FAA.

01:49And we know you need resources to ensure the safety of our national airspace, support American manufacturers and innovators,

01:56and invest in infrastructure that improves the efficiency and reliability of our aviation system.

02:01This subcommittee will support your efforts as we develop our fiscal year 2026 budget.

02:07This will include addressing some of our aging air traffic infrastructure that's no longer sustainable in its current form

02:14and could become an operational risk.

02:17I'll reiterate what Chairman Womack stated earlier.

02:20Our commitment to safety and security will be steadfast and unified.

02:25We will begin to do this within the confines of the President's budget

02:29while we wait to receive your broader air traffic control proposal.

02:33Now, as you know, air traffic infrastructure isn't the only challenging aspect of our national airspace system.

02:41Personnel levels are also a systemic concern, and in particular, the men and women who control our skies

02:47that are trained at the sole FAA Academy located in Oklahoma City.

02:51The training provided in Oklahoma City is unmatched.

02:55And I appreciated having the opportunity to speak with you several weeks ago

02:58about your efforts to improve the completion rate of the talented students who attend the Academy.

03:05As we discussed, the Academy must be successful, and to be successful,

03:09it must be properly resourced with the latest technology and the best instructors.

03:13In FY24, while I was privileged to be the chairman of this subcommittee,

03:17I worked to ensure the Academy received a significant increase for air traffic

03:22and technical operations training enhancements to strengthen throughout the air traffic control system

03:29for our trainees.

03:31This committee also ensured that in our final FY25 appropriation,

03:35we provided funding to train an additional 2,000 air traffic controllers,

03:40and I understand your budget request for FY26 contemplates pushing that number potentially to as high as 2,500.

03:47As we advance the FY26 appropriation, I look forward to working with you

03:53and the administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle

03:57to fund critical safety missions and transportation infrastructure needs for the country.

04:03With that, let me just add, this is a genuinely bipartisan subcommittee.

04:09All of us are in the skies together.

04:12We all have friends and family that are flying.

04:14We all are concerned about rail safety.

04:16We're concerned about road safety.

04:18And so I don't find much partisan division here.

04:21It's really more about figuring out, as Mr. Clyburn said, a ranking member,

04:26what's the right thing to do here?

04:28What are the investments we should be making?

04:30And to that, we're going to rely very heavily on your judgment, your recommendations.

04:34And one way or another, we're going to make the investments that we need to make.

04:39Again, I don't like to look at what we did in 24 and 25 as kind of one-hit wonders.

04:45There need to be a sustained process of investment improvement that's going to stretch over a number of years.

04:51And I couldn't be prouder of the members of this subcommittee on both sides of the aisle

04:56because I know they've got that kind of commitment.

04:57I've worked with a lot of them in different capacities before.

05:00So I think we have the opportunity in this subcommittee to do something really significant to improve the lives of the American people

05:08and the safety of the American people.

05:10And I think it's something we can do in a bipartisan fashion.

05:12So we look forward to your leadership and your cooperation in helping our committee get to where it needs to go.

05:18With that, Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back.

05:19Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:21And I associate myself with your remarks.

05:25It is a shared responsibility, and we have a lot of work to do to ensure the safety of the flying public.

05:32Mr. Rosha-Long.

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