Budget

Obama signs legislation ending FAA furloughs

President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill to end furloughs of air traffic controllers.

Federal News Network Staff

May 2, 2013 9:48 am

< a min read

By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill to end furloughs of air traffic controllers.

The furloughs stemmed from the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that started taking effect in March.

Millions of air travelers were affected recently by delayed flights across the country because of the furloughs.

Congress moved quickly on a fix, despite Obama’s preference that the cuts be replaced all at once rather than piecemeal.

A typo in the legislation delayed getting the bill to Obama, but Congress worked out the glitch Tuesday, and the president signed it Wednesday.

The bill lets the FAA transfer around as much as $253 million to prevent staffing reductions through September, when the current budget year ends.

The FAA had started resuming normal operations in anticipation of Obama signing the measure.

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