Sen. Schumer calls for probe into FAA operations amid ongoing Newark airport delays
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday called for a federal investigation of the FAA amid ongoing delays at Newark Airport.
'The chaos at Newark Airport could very well be a national harbinger if all these issues aren't fixed, and if the FAA can't get real solutions to these problems off the ground,' Schumer said. '(I)t is quite clear that the FAA is just a mess right now.'
Delays at Newark have been mounting since the afternoon of April 28, when twin failures of the FAA's air traffic control network — one affecting controllers' radar screens and the other affecting their communications — ground air traffic to a halt for two hours.
Sources told the Daily News that those issues have both been fixed — albeit temporarily — but in the days since, a shortage of air traffic controllers responsible for the airspace over northern New Jersey has led to persistent cancellations and delays.
In a Monday letter to Mitch Behm, the acting inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Schumer demanded an inquest into last week's dual outages as well as the shortage of air traffic controllers certified to guide planes across northern New Jersey — home to Newark, Teterboro and Morristown airports.
'I am calling on you to investigate the FAA's administrative, operational and capital functions to deliver more for the American people,' Schumer wrote.
Specifically, Schumer said he was seeking answers as to why Philadelphia's Terminal Radar Approach Control facility — known as TRACON— is tasked with guiding pilots to airports in Eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey but was not included in a May pay bump issued by the FAA in an effort to attract more employees to 'hard to staff' locations. New York and Washington, D.C.'s TRACONs were also omitted from the list.
Schumer also asked Behm to dig into the FAA's plans to upgrade the infrastructure that relays radar and communication data to controllers — the same radar and telcom networks that failed last week.
Control of the airspace over northern Jersey was transferred from NYC TRACOM on Long Island to the Philadelphia control center last summer in an effort to lessen the load on the Nassau County facility.
Sources told The News that while control of the airspace is now handled by the city of brotherly love, the radar feeds of the skies above Jersey are still sent to Long Island. The feeds must then be transmitted to controller's screens in Philly, a situation that is prone to latency and outages.
That system, along with the telecommunications network that lets controllers talk to planes and local airport control towers, failed for at least two hours last Monday, according to sources familiar with the outage.
Of the 25 Philly-based air traffic controllers qualified to guide planes through the north Jersey airspace, at least five took contractually-allowed leave following the radar and comms failure — a move that some, including United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, have called an unofficial work action by the unionized controllers.
United subsequently cut 35 daily flights from the airport on Sunday, about 10% of the carrier's schedule.
A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association — the controllers' union — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As of midday Monday, more than 150 flights through Newark had been canceled, and 265 flights had been delayed.
In a statement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns Newark, JFK and La Guardia airports, called on the FAA to do more.
'The Port Authority has invested billions to modernize Newark Liberty, but those improvements depend on a fully staffed and modern federal air traffic system,' a spokesperson for the bi-state agency said. 'We continue to urge the FAA to address ongoing staffing shortages and accelerate long-overdue technology upgrades that continue to cause delays in the nation's busiest air corridor.'
Aidan O'Donnell, the Port Authority's general manager for New Jersey airport operations, told The News Monday that he empathized with travelers.
'We recognize that they have places to be, or they want to come home,' he said. 'Nobody finds the level of delay that our customers have been subjected to in any way acceptable.'
_____
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Some Dems Warn Colleagues: Crypto Bill Could Inject Some 19th Century Chaos Into US Economy
The Senate is poised to pass the GENIUS Act in the coming weeks. The bill will bestow upon the crypto industry a long-sought blessing: a key form of the digital currency, stablecoins, will now be subject to a bespoke (and notably light-touch) regulatory system created by Congress. With it will come the U.S. government's stamp of approval. After years spent being dismissed as a haven for money launderers and speculators, the bill is in part a marker that the crypto industry has arrived in Washington. And yet, there are a few problems. The bill could open multiple pathways toward contagion that could spread throughout the financial system, Hill staffers and experts familiar with the legislation warn TPM. Some argue that it would create a financial system that operates with many of the same risks the U.S. left behind in the 20th century, including banks and private companies issuing their own, alternate currencies; others regard the bill as priming the country for a series of runs on digital currencies. Among legislators, the fighting over the proper level alarm about these possible eventualities has been most acute among Senate Democrats. While nearly the entire Republican Senate conference supports the bill, a few Senate Dems have broken off to lead negotiations over the legislation and persuade others in their party to support it. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) was the first Democrat to co-sponsor the bill; others, including Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), have taken the lead in pushing it. Stablecoins, the form of crypto that the GENIUS Act addresses, are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of a state-issued currency, like the dollar. Crypto advocates tout stablecoins as solving a few problems: consumers can use their stability to buy other forms of cryptocurrency; they can also, advocates say, double as a means to quickly transfer payments between people. In that sense, they're kind of like Venmo, only based in the blockchain and, often, possessing perplexing foreign ties. (One of the biggest stablecoins, Tether, is run from El Salvador.) It's that quality that causes anxiety among many experts in banking and financial regulation, including Democratic staffers on the Senate Banking Committee. Stablecoins, under the GENIUS Act, will receive the benefits that the U.S. legal system gives to deposits, but without most of the qualities that make that system secure. 'The GENIUS Act folds stablecoins directly into the traditional financial system, while applying weaker safeguards than banks or investment companies must adhere to,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said in a speech last month. Under the bill, there's no deposit insurance to guarantee stablecoin holdings. But more troubling than that, for critics, is the limited regulation of how stablecoin issuers can use the money they receive and how, in the event of a crisis, customers would be made whole. New kinds of businesses will be able to issue stablecoins under the legislation, including banks (typically via subsidiaries) and tech megafirms like Meta, X, Amazon, and others. The risk, experts told TPM, partly stems from how stablecoin issuers would meet a run on their coins. Stablecoins are typically backed up by bank deposits or investments in treasuries; customers pulling their stablecoin deposits at once could resemble an old-school bank run, depleting these assets. 'It would be a financial crisis grease fire,' one Senate staffer told TPM about the possibility. Under this scenario, even people who don't hold crypto investments could be affected. A bank that holds a large amount of stablecoin deposits, when faced with mass withdrawals to shore up one or multiple failing stablecoins, could see its balance sheet falter. The same thing could happen if treasury securities or other backing assets are sold en masse, causing prices to plummet. Mark Hays, who covers cryptocurrency issues for American for Financial Reform, told TPM last month that banks themselves might be exposed in another way. Bank subsidiaries that issue stablecoins could experience a run, meaning that the parent bank would have to bail it out. These are all means by which risks inherent to the form of cryptocurrency might spread. 'The more banks get exposed to that, the more the fallout could be significant,' Hays said. Many critics of the GENIUS Act say that features of the bill will revive the problems that America's financial system experienced in the 19th century. There's an irony here. Some of Trump II's staunchest backers, particularly those on the new tech right, frame their support for the president as part of an effort to return to the 1890s. Trump himself has supposedly become enamored with President William McKinley; some supporters speak about going further than undoing the social changes of the 1960s or the New Deal, and instead call to undo the changes brought by the Progressive Era. That includes the federal reserve, income tax, and many early banking regulations. Of course, in the case of cryptocurrency, this effort to turn back the clock skips right past a key point of the push for legislation. The GENIUS Act, some observers say, could prompt mass adoption of the coins. That, in the event of a crisis, could prompt the Federal Reserve to bail out issuers — a decidedly post-1890s backstop. But one feature of the bill would turn time back: it would allow banks and some businesses to issue their own stablecoins. This hasn't escaped the attention of analysts at JP Morgan; strategists at the bank reportedly noted in a letter to clients that such a system would recall that of 'the 19th century, when various types of banknotes were valued differently.' For big tech firms, stablecoins present an opportunity: users could pay for purchases entirely within an app. Companies with operations around the world could unify transactions under one, in-house coin; they could also charge small transaction fees on each purchase that would open up a new way of making money. Hilary Allen, an American University professor who studies financial regulation, told TPM that the problem, again, would be that these are not actual bank deposits: they are lightly regulated cryptocurrencies. 'People will quite happily leave all their money in an app offered by a big tech platform,' she said. The scale of the risk to the financial system all depends on how many people adopt the use of stablecoins. Relatively few people use cryptocurrencies, though industry boosters argue that passing the GENIUS Act and market structure legislation later this summer will spur more people to do so. Big tech firms issuing their own coins as a means to buy products sold by the firms would also prompt more people to join. But even that, Allen said, could raise troubling questions about how it affects the nature of these businesses. 'Do they become too-big-to-fail financial institutions with all the power and the implicit bailouts that come with that?' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Romanian pleads guilty to swatting calls targeting former US president, lawmakers
A Romanian citizen pleaded guilty on Monday to leading a years-long conspiracy targeting dozens of individuals — including members of Congress, places of worship, and a former United States president — with 'swatting' calls and bomb threats intended to provoke fear and solicit a police response. Thomasz Szabo, 26, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., to one count of conspiracy and one count of threats and false information regarding explosives. The sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 23. Federal prosecutors say Szabo was the leader of an online community that engaged in bomb threats and 'swatting' — a term that refers to making false reports of an ongoing threat of violence — since late 2020. He was extradited from Romania in November 2024, the DOJ said. 'This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation's security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. 'This case reflects our continued focus on protecting the American people and working with international partners to stop these threats at their source,' she continued. Szabo made numerous false reports to law enforcement, including in December 2020, when he threatened to commit a mass shooting at New York City synagogues and, in January 2021, when he threatened to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol and to kill then-President-elect Biden, according to a DOJ press release. Members of Szabo's group then engaged in a 'spree of swatting and bomb threats' from Dec. 24, 2023, to early January 2024, the DOJ said. During that time, the group targeted at least 25 members of Congress or their family members; at least six officials who were, either then or previously, serving as a senior Executive Branch official, including multiple Cabinet-level officials; at least 13 senior federal law enforcement officials; and various members of the judiciary, according to the DOJ. The DOJ said the group also targeted at least 27 officials who were serving at the time, or who previously served, as state government officials or their family members; four religious institutions; and multiple members of the media. In recent years, political violence and 'swatting' incidents have been on the rise, in particular targeting members of Congress and other high-profile public figures. Local Georgia news outlets reported that among the officials targeted by Szabo are Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Georgia State Sen. Clint Dixon. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
GOP senators express 'concerns,' 'skepticism' over Trump's spending bill after Musk rant
A cohort of Senate Republicans already troubled by the House GOP's version of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" found a common ally in Elon Musk, who again trashed the legislation on Tuesday. Musk, who just exited his tenure as Trump's efficiency bloodhound leading the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) last week, doubled down on his position that the House's reconciliation package was an "abomination." White House Stands By Tax Bill After Musk Calls It A 'Disgusting Abomination' "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Musk said on X. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination." "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong," he continued. "You know it." Senate Republicans have already vowed to make changes to the colossal bill, which includes the president's desires on tax, energy, immigration, defense and national debt policies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., lauded Musk for his work with DOGE, but noted that the Senate GOP and the tech-billionaire had "a difference of opinion." Read On The Fox News App Elon Musk Criticism Of Trump Tax Bill Frustrates Some Republicans: 'No Place In Congress' He didn't believe that Musk's comments would derail the bill entirely in the upper chamber, either. Thune has pledged to get the bill to the president's desk by Independence Day. "The legislation, as passed by the House, can be approved here in the Senate, can be strengthened in the Senate, in a number of ways," Thune said. "We intend to do that, but when it's all said and done, we'll send it back to the House and hope that they can pass it and put it on the president's desk." Still, fractures have emerged among lawmakers, with some viewing the bill through the same lens as Musk. "Well, he has some of the same skepticism I have, you know, towards the big, beautiful bill," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Trump Criticizes Rand Paul Over Tax Bill Opposition: 'Votes No On Everything' Paul has vowed not to support the bill as is without a serious overhaul to the legislation that would nix a $5 trillion increase to the nation's debt ceiling — a stance that has gotten him into hot water with Trump. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has similarly pledged not to support the bill unless much steeper spending cuts are achieved. The House's product includes $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, but Johnson would like to see a return to pre-pandemic spending levels, which would effectively amount to a roughly $6 trillion cut in spending. "I share his concerns," Johnson said of Musk. "I also appreciate what he and President Trump did with his DOGE effort." And Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a fiscal hawk whose views are closely aligned with Johnson's, argued in response to the tech billionaire's social media post that "federal spending has become excessive." "The resulting inflation harms Americans and weaponizes government," Lee said on X. "The Senate can make this bill better. It must now do so." Other Senate Republicans, including those with outstanding concerns with the current legislation, were much less receptive to Musk's tirade against the bill. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has remained steadfast in his position that he would not support the current Medicaid proposals in the House's bill, especially if they cut benefits to his constituents and people across the country. When asked his reaction to Musk's rant, he shrugged, "Well, he's entitled to his opinion, it's a free country." Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.V., who has expressed reservations on the contents of the megabill, was more blunt. "My reaction to that is just simply this — and y'all may like this or not like this — but you know, Donald Trump is our president, not Elon Musk," he article source: GOP senators express 'concerns,' 'skepticism' over Trump's spending bill after Musk rant
