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Furthermore, the sequestration-related furloughs of April 2013 caused severe delays. During the week of April 21-27, 2013, delays nearly tripled at our nation's airports, from 5,103 delays to 13,694. These cuts are problematic and will return in 2020 unless Congress finds a way to end sequestration. Until then, the NAS remains at risk of falling behind on safety, efficiency, and capacity. Another potential threat to funding stability is a recent package of spending cuts proposed by the Administration, known as "rescissions." On May 9, the Trump Administration proposed a sweeping $15.4 billion package of spending cuts that slices across 10 federal departments. The request now goes to the House Appropriations Committee, which will have 25 calendar days to craft its own bill before other House members can act on their own to bring up rescissions legislation. If the House passes a bill, it would then be considered by the Senate where rescissions bills require only a simple majority for passage. Although the FAA and our members are not being targeted at this time, NATCA will remain vigilant and continue to advocate for full funding for FAA Operations and for all issues critical to our membership. MESSAGE The FAA needs a stable, predictable funding stream. Without long-term authorization and long-term funding, we face continued funding uncertainty, and the NAS is in jeopardy of falling behind on safety, efficiency, and capacity. As Congress works to provide long-term reauthorization for the FAA and address the problem of stop-and-go funding, it is important that all stakeholders within the NAS work together to ensure that the United States remains the world leader in aviation. EXAMPLES Below are key examples of stop-and-go funding and how each negatively affected the NAS and our workforce. 2011 PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Prior to February 2012, the FAA Reauthorization Act (the authorizing measure that establishes, continues, or modifies FAA programs and activities) was delayed over five years and faced 23 short-term extensions before finally being signed into law in February 2012. When an agreement could not be reached on the 21st extension, the FAA was partially shut down for two weeks during the summer of 2011, which cost the government nearly $30 million a day because the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (aviation trust fund) was not authorized and the FAA could not collect taxes. FAA employees were not paid for a significant period of time. Although Congress later restored the employees' lost pay, those aviation safety professionals experienced funding uncertainty at a personal level, which resulted in low morale and a loss of confidence in the funding system. 2013 SEQUESTRATION CUTS Sequestration is the result of a congressional money-saving approach to cut the federal budget across the board. It cut nearly $493 million from the FAA's Operations & Maintenance budget without regard for the safety or efficiency of the NAS. The law has had a negative effect on the NAS. For example, delayed preventative maintenance means engineers and technicians operate on a "fix-on-fail" policy, forcing them to wait until equipment breaks before replacing it. Until Congress finds a way to resolve sequestration, modify the FAA's funding stream, or simply exempt the FAA from this draconian fiscal policy, the NAS is in jeopardy of falling behind on safety, efficiency, and capacity. 2013 SEQUESTRATION FURLOUGHS AND THREATENED TOWER CLOSURES In April 2013, sequestration forced the FAA to furlough every employee, including air traffic controllers, and to consider closing towers in order to achieve the mandated spending cuts. These furloughs led to significant delays: during the week of April 21-27, 2013, delays jumped to 13,694, nearly triple the 5,103 delays in the same week of 2012 and the 5,110 delays in 2014. The FAA NiW Today n a t c a . o r g / n i w STOP-AND-GO FUNDING continued 40

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