Jim Clyburn Tells FAA Administration: The Money Being Requested 'Doesn’t Line Up' With The Work You Have To Do

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During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) questioned Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau about the FY2026 budget request and proposed infrastructure modernization projects.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

00:09Relatively a small state, but in my congressional district,

00:13we're going to find Shell Air Force Base, headquarters of the 9th Army,

00:18or the 9th Air Force, and headquarters of the 3rd Army.

00:23Military, we have the Marine Air Station.

00:27The Columbia Airport, the Charleston International Airport.

00:34All of those air traffic controllers have been in to visit with me

00:38about the challenges that they have trying to maintain safety

00:46with the way things are currently organized or being implemented.

00:57And they're really concerned about the shortages, the resignations,

01:02the problem we have getting trained, traffic controllers up to snuff.

01:09How do you plan to do more with less?

01:18Well, I would start by saying I believe the FAA can be a more efficient organization.

01:25I think that is the charge to me by the Secretary,

01:28and I believe we can accomplish that goal.

01:30We have an amazing, amazing workforce that comes to work every day,

01:34as I mentioned during the Memorial Day holiday is one example of that.

01:38But I think to the center of your question,

01:42what we're talking about is the ability to continue to sustain what we have today

01:46and at the same time accelerate whether it's on the controller workforce.

01:50And by the way, it's not just the controller workforce.

01:53We are also talking about maintainers, safety inspectors, engineers,

01:57all of the people that go into our ecosystem to make sure there's a safe

02:00and efficient air transportation system.

02:04And while we're looking at the workforce piece of it,

02:06we're also looking at modernizing the equipment that is so essential

02:09to what your constituents are talking about with respect to safe

02:13and efficient airspace in the system.

02:14So I think we're approaching it from a multi-pronged approach.

02:18Part of that has to do with the workforce.

02:21And again, supercharging the controllers is so critical to our ability

02:25to manage the traffic we have today and look at what we expect to see in the future.

02:32Well, looking at your plan, I'm still trying to figure out the budget numbers

02:40and the amount of money being requested to do this seem not to line up with the amount of work

02:51that you've got to do, especially in keeping with all of the other lack of numbers coming in to the system.

03:01And I have not seen what I consider to be a definitive plan on how you're going to increase

03:08the number of air traffic controllers.

03:11I forgot the number, some ungodly number in terms of the shortages that we currently have.

03:19Yes, sir.

03:20So this year we are projecting to meet 2,000 air traffic controllers through our system.

03:27Just a few months ago, we realized we may not hit that thanks to the secretary and his leadership.

03:33We have supercharged that.

03:34So we will get 2,000 people into the training academy, which, by the way, Chairman Cole,

03:39is a gem for us when we think about what we're talking about there in Oklahoma City

03:45and the ability to put controllers through that system.

03:49As it relates to the technology plan, again, the billion dollars is to make sure

03:54that we have that resiliency in the fiber optics so that there is good connectivity

03:58between the facilities themselves.

04:01And then the additional monies would go to, in fact, accelerating the radar replacement program.

04:06So that is the fundamental.

04:08When we talk about the larger plan that the secretary so artfully outlines,

04:12that is where I think it's going to be critical that we work with Congress to understand,

04:18to lay out our plan, so going from TDM to IP, so copper wires to fiber optics,

04:25when we think about going to new radar replacements, new radios for the controllers

04:30so they can talk to the pilots, and then, of course, facilities,

04:33all of those things are going to go into kind of this approach to modernize the airspace system.

04:38Well, thank you.

04:40My time has almost expired, but I would like to know at some point, Mr. Chairman,

04:44whether or not we plan to utilize those colleges and universities to supplement that,

04:50which I know is great training out of Oklahoma City.

04:55However, in terms of numbers, the volume we need, I think we ought to take a look

05:00at those colleges and universities.

05:01Yes, sir.

05:02I thank the ranking members.

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