Chip Cravaack: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, over 700 pilots have been vetted and not trained; 1,500 pilots have…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, over 700 pilots have been vetted and not trained; 1,500 pilots have applied for the program but have not yet been vetted. It costs about $6,000 per pilot to put them through the backlog for check and training. At current funding at $25.5 million, they're only able to bring about 250 new pilots per year on board, which leaves them in less than a status quo status, probably declining once the age of 65 hits many of the pilots in backlog. Funding is the bottleneck, rather than the training center capacity. $10 million would not clear the backlog that currently exists. It would be a good start, though. The proposal to reduce the funding for screening and maintenance and screener PC&B by $5 million each, we have strong approval of many organizations for this program, including the Airline Pilots Association. Mr. Chairman, this is one of the most valuable programs and deterrents that is in the air at the current time. It costs again, once again, $15 per flight to protect the American traveling public. To me, Mr. Chairman, this is a no-brainer.”