Back in March, the FAA announced it would be shuttering 149 air traffic control towers across the land as part of the "required" cuts brought on by "The Sequestration." We were told not to worry; that Americans would remain safe as we criss-crossed the country at 30,000 feet.
Which prompted the following question: If that's true, why were we spending $600 million to operate these superfluous spires in the first place?
With recent emergency legislation in hand, the FAA has now cancelled plans to close the towers. According to Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, "This victory is thanks to a bipartisan coalition of senators and congressmen and women who came together to demonstrate that there are more responsible ways to cut spending than by compromising safety."
But, the FAA guy said closing the towers wouldn't compromise safety. So, who's playing fast and loose with the truth? The FAA or those on Capitol Hill who used the fear of planes falling from the skies to play their tiresome games to stay in the public eye?
Like those towers were ever really going to close...needed or not.
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