SHAHEEN STATEMENT ON FAA FURLOUGH LEGISLATION

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) released the following statement after the House and Senate both passed legislation to reverse the sequester-driven furloughing of 15,000 Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers:

“With the safety, efficiency and integrity of our air travel system on the line, I am glad Congress was finally able to come together in a bipartisan way to avoid future furloughing of air traffic controllers.

However, we can’t stop here. We still need to more completely address the sequester’s damaging, across-the-board cuts. The Senate budget I voted for accomplished that goal and offered a long-term, balanced solution toward addressing the debt and deficit without sacrificing critical national security and economic interests. These harmful, automatic cuts were never designed to be implemented and as this week’s furloughs unfortunately demonstrated, we must act to protect our economy and our workers from the crippling consequences.”