May 03--Forty-one U.S. senators led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., sent a letter Thursday calling on the heads of key transportation agencies to keep open 149 contract control towers scheduled for closure, including those at Tweed New Haven Regional Airport and five other Connecticut airports.
Beyond simply requesting to keep the towers open, the letter to the heads of the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation stated that the senators' intent in passing a bill last week to end sequester-related furloughs of tens of thousands of FAA staffers was that the funds also be used to keep the contract-operated towers open.
"By providing up to $253 million in funding authority -- far above the amount required to prevent furloughs -- Congressional intent is clear: FAA must prevent the slated closure of 149 contract towers by fully funding the contract tower program," the senators wrote.
"The contract tower program is a vital public safety and economic development asset for dozens of communities -- many of them rural -- in every corner of the country," said the letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
"It is my strong belief -- shared by many of my colleagues in the Senate -- that legislation passed last week unequivocally provides the FAA with the funding authority needed to keep open 149 contract towers, including the six slated for closure in Connecticut," Blumenthal said in a press release.
He told the New Haven Register that the senators decided to write the letter "just to confirm and clarify that the contract towers will be included in this measure to keep open all of the air traffic ... facilities.
The "hundreds of air control tower at smaller airports that may be operated under contract ... are as important to some parts of the county" as the FAA-operated towers, he said.
The issue "has overwhelming bipartisan support, as reflected in the number of signatures," Blumenthal said.
The other Connecticut control towers slated to close are at Bridgeport's Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Hartford Brainard Airport, Waterbury-Oxford Airport, Danbury Municipal Airport and Groton-New London Airport.
The Senate passed the Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 unanimously last week unanimously. The House also passed it "by a strong bipartisan majority," the senators said.
An FAA spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment on whether the FAA has made a decision to suspend the contract tower closures scheduled to begin June 15.
In addition to Blumenthal and Moran, the Senate letter was signed by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Max Baucus, D-Mont., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., John Boozman, R-Ark., Richard Burr, R-N.C., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Robert Casey, D-Pa., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Al Franken, D-Minn., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Mark Kirk, R-Ill., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Mary Landrieu, D-La., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Joe Manchin, D-W.V., Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Mark Pryor, D-Ark., James Risch, R-Idaho, Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Tim Scott, R-S.C., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., John Thune, R-S.D., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Tom Udall, D-N.M, David Vitter, R-La., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.
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