James Oberstar: “This President early in his term issued an executive order finding that air traffic control is not inherently a…”

“This President early in his term issued an executive order finding that air traffic control is not inherently a governmental function, which opens up the potential for basically a contracting out of the air traffic control system of the United States. The original House bill, debated fully in committee, prohibited privatization of air traffic control. It made a minor exception, particularly for maintenance of the system. The Senate bill debated and voted on an amendment which absolutely prohibited any contracting out by the FAA, even for maintenance purposes. So we went to conference with a prohibition in both the House and the Senate bill on the contracting out of air traffic control, the control of our air space and the safety of the flying public. At the one brief conference meeting last July, suddenly we were confronted with a proposal to privatize 71 air traffic control towers in the United States.”