Regulations and Government
Despite mixed signals, DOT lauds next-gen NAS
At about the same time Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta was announcing plans for a “next-generation air transportation system” to the Washington Aero

At about the same time Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta was announcing plans for a “next-generation air transportation system” to the Washington Aero Club in late January, word was filtering out of the White House that the Bush Administration wanted to cut the FAA’s facilities and equipment (F&E) budget for fiscal year 2005 by almost half a billion dollars.

Never mind that any proposal to reduce F&E funding is likely to meet stiff resistance from a Congress that clearly remembers the near-gridlocked ATC system during spring/summer 2000, the timing nevertheless seemed a bit odd.