在周五发生的一场历史性空域瘫痪事件导致全国所有航班停飞后，交通部长肖恩·达菲敦促国会授权为联邦航空管理局（FAA）提供数百亿美元的额外拨款。
Following a historic airspace meltdown on Friday that grounded all flights nationwide, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has implored Congress to authorize tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the Federal Aviation Administration.
但将于1月成为多数党的民主党人指出，共和党去年通过的立法已向该机构拨款125亿美元，认为该机构已拥有所需资金。达菲表示情况并非如此。
But Democrats, who are set to take the majority in January, are pointing to legislation passed by Republicans last year that already gave the agency $12.5 billion, arguing that it already has the funds it needs.
“我在那125亿美元中没有任何资金可用于电信新架构的建设。我无法开发管理飞机在空域飞行的新软件，因为现有系统可追溯至20世纪90年代，但没有资金用于此项工作。也没有资金用于塔台。我们的塔台已经老旧，”达菲周日在CNN节目《国情咨文》中对主持人达娜·巴什说道。
Duffy says that’s not true.
达菲此前曾向国会申请约300亿美元，但在周五事故发生后，他将申请额度提高至500亿美元。唐纳德·特朗普总统周日在社交媒体发文，也敦促国会“快把钱给出来！”。交通部长表示，此次停飞很可能是由于承包商L3Harris在阿肯色州埃尔多拉多的一个空管设施将旧铜线更换为更现代的光纤系统时出现问题所致。目前尚不清楚故障是由设备缺陷还是承包商失误导致。
“I have no money in that $12.5 billion that I can use for a new architecture for telecom. I can’t build new software to manage our airplanes in the airspace because it dates back to the 1990s, but there’s no money for that. There’s no money for towers. Our towers are old,” Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash on Sunday.
根据特朗普签署的大规模支出和政策法案——该法案未获任何民主党人支持——在三年内拨给该机构的125亿美元中，47.5亿美元被分配用于“电信基础设施现代化和系统升级”。达菲周六在新闻发布会上表示，该机构迄今已花费现代化预算的约三分之一。
Duffy had asked Congress for around $30 billion but after Friday’s incident, he upped the request to $50 billion. President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, also urged Congress to “give the money, FAST!”The transportation secretary said the ground stop was likely due to an issue that occurred while contractor L3Harris was switching an old copper wire at an air traffic location in El Dorado, Arkansas, to a more modern fiber optic system. It is unclear whether the outage was due to faulty equipment or contractor error.
周日，达菲表示所有电信现代化工作可在“2029年上半年”完成。“我只需要资金把它完成。我希望如果他们今天给钱，我明天就能开工建设，”达菲说道。
Of the $12.5 billion given to the agency for three years under Trump’s massive spending and policy bill — which no Democrats supported — $4.75 billion was allocated for “telecommunications infrastructure modernization and systems upgrades.”Duffy said at a news conference Saturday that the agency has spent about one-third of the modernization budget so far.
周六晚些时候，众议院两个监管航空业委员会的民主党首席议员——里克·拉森和安德烈·卡森——要求政府向国会解释，如果仍有未支出资金，为何该机构还需要更多资金。两人在一份联合声明中补充说，联邦航空管理局和交通部员工将于周一向他们的工作人员进行简报。
On Sunday, Duffy said all the telecom work can be done by “the first part of 2029.”“All I need is the money to finish it. And my, my hope is that if they give me money today, I’ll be going tomorrow to build it,” Duffy said.
与此同时，一些民主党人抨击政府的优先事项，以及其在移民执法和华盛顿特区建设项目上的支出，而非航空现代化和安全。
Later Saturday, Reps. Rick Larsen and André Carson — the top Democrats on two House panels overseeing the aviation industry — asked the administration to explain to Congress why the agency needs more money if there are still unspent funds. The two added in a joint statement that FAA and DOT employees will brief their staff on Monday.
夏威夷州参议员布赖恩·沙茨在X平台发帖称：“在常规拨款之外，移民与海关执法局（ICE）还有一笔600亿美元的额外资金，我们应该至少用其中一部分资金用于联邦航空管理局。我们可以解决这个问题，而不需要花费任何额外的纳税人资金。”
Meanwhile, some Democrats slammed the administration’s priorities and how it has spent money in immigration enforcement and construction projects in Washington, DC, over aviation modernization and safety.
伊利诺伊州参议员塔米·达克沃斯在X平台发帖称：“你们实际上已经控制国会两年了。显然，虚荣项目总是有钱。但修复我们的空中交通管制系统却没钱？也许特朗普应该把航空安全置于他那可悲的‘拱门’之上。”
“There is a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE and we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said in a post on X. “We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.”
加利福尼亚州众议员劳拉·弗里德曼也在X平台发帖称：“共和党自己的法案给了移民与海关执法局750亿美元。空中交通管制只得到了125亿美元。钱是有的。这是一个优先事项的问题。”
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a post on X, “You’ve literally controlled Congress for the past two years. And apparently, there’s always been money for vanity projects. But none to fix our air traffic control system? Perhaps Trump should prioritize aviation safety over his pathetic Arch.”
然而，马里兰州参议员克里斯·范霍伦——一位上周刚宣布竞争参议院多数党领袖的民主党人——周日表示愿意支持给该机构提供额外资金，同时呼吁政府官员到国会来为这一要求“提供理由”。
California Rep. Laura Friedman also said in a post on X, “Republicans’ own bill gave ICE $75 BILLION. Air traffic control got $12.5 billion. There’s money. It’s a question of priorities.”However, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who launched a bid for Senate majority leader last week, signaled openness to supporting additional funds for the agency on Sunday while calling on administration officials to come to Congress and “justify” the ask.
霍伦周日对CNN表示：“无论需要多少资金来解决这个问题，我都会支持。我们应该以两党合作的方式解决这个问题。”但他补充道，“国会已经给了政府他们要求的东西，现在听到部长指责国会，真是讽刺。如果他们需要更多，应该上来（国会）证明其合理性。”
“I will support whatever level of money is necessary to fix this problem. We should fix this problem on a bipartisan basis,” Hollen told CNN on Sunday, but added, “It’s really rich to hear the secretary pointing the fingers at Congress when Congress has given the administration what they asked for. If they need more, they should come up and justify it.”
共和党可以利用剩余的多数党周期为该机构批准额外拨款，即将卸任的众议院议长迈克·约翰逊周六表示，他将把联邦航空管理局（FAA）的资金加入即将推出的“立法包”中。
Republicans could use the remaining weeks of their majority to approve additional funding for the agency, and outgoing House Speaker Mike Johnson said Saturday that he would add FAA funding to an upcoming “legislative package.”
约翰逊对福克斯新闻表示：“我们其实不需要任何调查就能明白我们需要进一步投资。我们将努力推动此事完成。”国会助手目前尚不清楚领导层将如何通过新的拨款。目前，拨款委员正在就政府资金协议进行谈判，截止日期为12月11日。参议院两党领导层助手暂未回应关于该院推进路径的提问。
“We don’t really need any investigation to understand we need further investment,” Johnson told Fox News. “We’re going to work to get it done.”It was not immediately clear to congressional aides how leaders will pass new funding. Currently, appropriators are negotiating a government funding deal ahead of a December 11 deadline. Senate leadership aides in each party did not immediately respond to questions about the path forward in that chamber.
共和党参议员埃里克·施密特也在推动其法案《现代天空法案》的通过，该法案将投资300亿美元用于现代化国家航空系统。这位密苏里州参议员周五与特朗普进行了交谈，也曾就此事与达菲和国土安全部部长马克韦恩·马林进行过沟通。
GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt is also pushing for passage of his bill, the Modern Skies Act, which would invest $30 billion in modernizing the nation’s aviation system. The Missouri senator spoke with Trump on Friday, and has also spoken with Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on the topic.