Following a historic airspace meltdown on Friday that grounded all flights nationwide, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has implored Congress to authorize tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the Federal Aviation Administration.
But Democrats, who are set to take the majority in January, are pointing to legislation passed by Republicans last year that already gave the agency $12.5 billion, arguing that it already has the funds it needs.
“I have no money in that $12.5 billion that I can use for a new architecture for telecom. I can’t build new software to manage our airplanes in the airspace because it dates back to the 1990s, but there’s no money for that. There’s no money for towers. Our towers are old,” Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash on Sunday.
Duffy had asked Congress for around $30 billion but after Friday’s incident, he upped the request to $50 billion. President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, also urged Congress to “give the money, FAST!”
The transportation secretary said the ground stop was likely due to an issue that occurred while contractor L3Harris was switching an old copper wire at an air traffic location in El Dorado, Arkansas, to a more modern fiber optic system. It is unclear whether the outage was due to faulty equipment or contractor error.
Of the $12.5 billion given to the agency for three years under Trump’s massive spending and policy bill — which no Democrats supported — $4.75 billion was allocated for “telecommunications infrastructure modernization and systems upgrades.” Duffy said at a news conference Saturday that the agency has spent about one-third of the modernization budget so far.
On Sunday, Duffy said all the telecom work can be done by “the first part of 2029.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Dana Bash he can’t buy air traffic control equipment off the shelf and that the $12.5 billion Congress approved is on track to be spent by the end of 2028.
“All I need is the money to finish it. And my, my hope is that if they give me money today, I’ll be going tomorrow to build it,” Duffy said.
Later Saturday, Reps. Rick Larsen and André Carson — the top Democrats on two House panels overseeing the aviation industry — asked the administration to explain to Congress why the agency needs more money if there are still unspent funds. The two added in a joint statement that FAA and DOT employees will brief their staff on Monday.
Meanwhile, some Democrats slammed the administration’s priorities and how it has spent money in immigration enforcement and construction projects in Washington, DC, over aviation modernization and safety.
“There is a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE and we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said in a post on X . “We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.”
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a post on X , “You’ve literally controlled Congress for the past two years. And apparently, there’s always been money for vanity projects. But none to fix our air traffic control system? Perhaps Trump should prioritize aviation safety over his pathetic Arch.”
California Rep. Laura Friedman also said in a post on X , “Republicans’ own bill gave ICE $75 BILLION. Air traffic control got $12.5 billion. There’s money. It’s a question of priorities.”
However, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who launched a bid for Senate majority leader last week, signaled openness to supporting additional funds for the agency on Sunday while calling on administration officials to come to Congress and “justify” the ask.
“I will support whatever level of money is necessary to fix this problem. We should fix this problem on a bipartisan basis,” Hollen told CNN on Sunday, but added, “It’s really rich to hear the secretary pointing the fingers at Congress when Congress has given the administration what they asked for. If they need more, they should come up and justify it.”
Republicans could use the remaining weeks of their majority to approve additional funding for the agency, and outgoing House Speaker Mike Johnson said Saturday that he would add FAA funding to an upcoming “legislative package.”
“We don’t really need any investigation to understand we need further investment,” Johnson told Fox News. “We’re going to work to get it done.”
It was not immediately clear to congressional aides how leaders will pass new funding. Currently, appropriators are negotiating a government funding deal ahead of a December 11 deadline. Senate leadership aides in each party did not immediately respond to questions about the path forward in that chamber.
GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt is also pushing for passage of his bill, the Modern Skies Act , which would invest $30 billion in modernizing the nation’s aviation system. The Missouri senator spoke with Trump on Friday, and has also spoken with Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on the topic.
CNN’s Ellis Kim, Ted Barrett, Logan Schiciano, Isa Mudannayake and Aleena Fayaz contributed to this report.
