On the recordFebruary 28, 2013
we just met with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, a former Congressman from Illinois. He said the opposite of what the Senator from Pennsylvania said. The Secretary of Transportation said exactly the opposite of what the Senator just said. The sequestration is going to force him to reduce the payroll in his department. The largest payroll source is the Federal Aviation Administration and the largest cohort within that administration is the air traffic controllers. Sequestration is going to result in an announcement by the Department of Transportation within the next several days--if we don't avoid it with a vote on this Senate floor--of restrictions on airports across the United States because of sequestered air traffic controllers.
