Congress Approves Bill To End Furloughs Of Air Traffic Controllers
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) -- Lawmakers left Capitol Hill for a week-long break.
Many headed to the airport just minutes after passing a bill that is expected to end the flight delays seen this week.
The measure allows the Department of Transportation to move about $250 million within the agency and put air traffic controllers back on the job full-time, CBS 2's Danielle Nottingham reported Friday.
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It flew through Congress with bi-partisan support. But Democrats and Republicans continued to blame each other for the across-the-board budget cuts that led to controller cutbacks in the first place.
"We are here today because this administration has decided to put politics over damages," said Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.)
"Speaker Boehner said the sequestration bill included 98 percent of what Republicans wanted," Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) said.
The air traffic controllers' union is applauded the deal. When controllers were forced to begin missing work without pay this week it triggered thousands of delays.
Traveler Daniel Trapp said lawmakers should have found budget compromise months ago and never let it come to this.
"Watching it is like a slow motion train wreck, and it just seems silly to me," Trapp said.
The White House said Congress needs to address the billions of other automatic cuts impacting dozens of federal agencies.
"This is a Band-Aid covering a massive wound to the economy," Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
Controller tower staffing is expected to return to normal next week.
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