WASHINGTON — Congress has passed a bill to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to end sequestration-related furloughs for air traffic controllers.
The furloughs led to flight delays around the country this week, though officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International said there were limited problems at the airport.
“We did not see significant delays due to tower staffing levels at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport,” spokesman Patrick Hogan said in an email. “However, some flights between the Twin Cities and high-volume airports in places such as New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles did experience furlough-related delays.”
The Senate unanimously approved a bill Thursday night allowing the FAA to shift spending in its budget to put furloughed air traffic controllers back on the job, ending the flight delays. The House approved the bill on Friday, sending it to the President Obama for his signature.
The bill passed very swiftly, showing just how quickly Congress is able respond to public displeasure with high-profile sequestration cuts — the flight delays drew consternation from both the airlines and the flying public (and probably several members of Congress themselves, given that many of them fly into Washington from their districts on a weekly basis).
Along those lines, Democrats used the FAA bill to call for further sequestration fixes, but that seems unlikely, absent comparably vocal outcry elsewhere.
Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.