Live: Aviation industry leaders talk FAA overhaul at House hearing
(NewsNation) — Aviation industry stakeholders spoke before a House subcommittee on Wednesday about the first year under the Federal Aviation Administration's latest framework.
The Reauthorization Act of 2024, signed into law last May, effectively outlined the modernization of the national airspace system, ordered higher air traffic control hiring limits and set a five-year funding plan for the administration and its programs — up to $105.5 billion, a 9% increase from the previous law.
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The FAA has faced fierce criticism amid a perceived increase in aviation incidents, air traffic control staffing shortages, firings from the Trump administration and widespread tech issues.
Ranking member Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said in his opening statement that the FAA needs to focus on regulation and safety, adding that, 'unfortunately, the administration has moved swiftly in the wrong direction.'
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Cohen said White House officials 'eliminated a lot of the people we needed,' and said it's critical to reverse course on some of the firings doled out in the first months of Trump's second term.
Sara Nelson, Association of Flight Attendants CWA, AFL-CIO's international president, deemed the staffing cuts as 'simply unacceptable.'
Edward Bolen, National Business Aviation Association president and CEO, praised the reauthorization law's goals but acknowledged that those goals have not been fully recognized, one year later.
'I think what we are seeing is that there are parts of that bill that are being moved out on, and moved out quickly … I think all of us need to commit to making sure that great bill is being implemented,' he said.
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Capt. Jody Reven, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association president, said the reauthorization framework is imperative to aviation safety but urged the system 'urgently needs sustained, robust budget requests.'
Reven added that 'there's really no technological solution' that could solve inadequate staffing or prevent tragedy.
'Flightdeck and ATC technology are support tools, never replacement for experienced and rested, fully-trained pilots and air traffic controllers and flight attendants,' he said.
Other witnesses included Darren Pleasance, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president and Michael Robbins, the president and CEO of the Association of Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's 2026 budget request seeks $26.7 billion to overhaul the federal agency. That's an additional $1.5 billion, a 5.8% increase, compared to the 2025 fiscal year's budget.
That includes a $1.2 billion increase for air traffic modernization and operations, $596 million to ramp up our port and shipyard infrastructure, a $400 million boost for freight rail safety and $770 million for multimodal freight expansion.
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In May, Duffy promised to 'work with Congress, get the money and begin to build a brand-new system as quickly as possible.'
NewsNation's Xavier Walton contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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