COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
P RESS STATEMENT – NATCA PRESIDENT PAUL RINALDI ON THE REPUBLICAN
BUDGET RESOLUTION MARKUP IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
President Paul Rinaldi issued this statement on July 24 about the Republican Fiscal
Year 2018 budget resolution that passed in the Committee on the Budget in the U.S.
House of Representatives last week:
NATCA will work closely with members of Congress to improve the House resolution for
the 2018 federal budget, but our Union will fight any proposal that would harm or cut the
retirem ent benefits of active, former, or future NATCA members. These proposed cuts
would negatively affect the retirements of air traffic controllers and other federal
employees. At a time when the United States has the lowest number of certified
professional co ntrollers in 28 years, with nearly one - third of them retirement - eligible,
such cuts could have a devastating effect on the National Airspace System (NAS).
That we're having this policy discussion makes it clear why we need a stable,
predictable funding st ream to support air traffic control services; controller staffing, hiring,
and training; and long - term and ongoing modernization of the physical air traffic control
infrastructure.
BACKGROUND : The Committee on the Budget in the U.S House of Representative s
passed the resolution this week with instructions directing other House committees to
reduce federal spending by a minimum of $203 billion in the next 10 years. The House
Oversight and Government Reform committee (OGR) was instructed to produce a
minimum of $32 billion of these cuts. Because of their jurisdiction over a wide - range of
federal employee issues, these OGR cuts are expected to come from federal employee
benefit and retirement programs. Such cuts could include eliminating the FERS
supplemental retirement payments, including for those who are subject to mandatory
retirement such as air traffic controllers, cutting the take - home pay for federal workers
who participate in FERS by making them pay substantially higher contributions, or
eliminating th e FERS defined benefit pension/annuity for new federal employees and
transitioning them to a defined contribution retirement system.
NOTABLE PRESS CLIPS ON THIS BUDGET ISSUE
July 27: Federal Soup – "Republicans Urge Against Cuts to Feds' Retirement
Benefits in Letter"
July 28 : Government Executive – Senate Democrats Join Din of Retirement Cut
Opposition
OTHER PRESS RELEASES SINCE OUR LAST UPDATE
July 28: Aviation Works for You – Aviation Stakeholders, Including NATCA,
Highlight Benefits of Careers Th roughout Industry
At the 2017 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, flight attendants, air traffic controllers,
aircraft manufactures, airline pilots, aviation maintenance workers, dispatchers, and
airport operators launched "Aviation Works for You," a new campaign targ eted at
promoting the value of careers in aviation to today's youth.
NATCA is quoted in the press release:
"More than 13,000 certified controllers and controller trainees are currently
working in the United States. They take incredible pride in their caree rs, keeping our
national airspace system safe. They use their skills to handle 141 million total operations
