A bill was passed in the House on Friday that would end the Federal Aviation Administration's furlough on air traffic controllers. The bill passed 361-41 and is expected to be signed once it reaches President Barack Obama's desk.
Fearing that a furlough of air traffic controllers would cause massive flight delays Democratic and Republican lawmakers attempted to convince the Obama administration to cancel them were to no avail.
The furloughs went in to effect on Sunday and immediately caused flight disruptions nationwide. Since Sunday over 3,000 flights have been delayed leaving passengers irate.
Congress acted with uncharacteristic speed in order to alleviate the pains being felt by travelers. White House spokesman Jay Carney was quick to damper any enthusiasm and remind Congress that more substantial action is still needed.
"Congress should do the responsible thing and stop dealing with these issues from crisis to crisis," Carney said. "Eliminate the sequester through balanced deficit reduction."
Carney would go on to say that while the president will sign the bill, "he believes this is a Band-Aid covering a massive wound to the economy."
While Congress appeared to act in lockstep to fix the problem, they were as divided as ever when discussing the causes of the flight delays. Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) believes that the sequestration bill is not to blame for the furloughs.
"I think we all agree that the administration and the FAA has handled this sequester poorly," Latham said. "The Congress is stepping in to correct the problems caused by the administration's gross mismanagement."
As many members of Congress were preparing to fly home for vacation, opponents of the sequestration bill feel that this is the first time the bill's effects have hit those who supported it.
"It's totally outrageous. The people who are whining the most are the ones who made this happen. They wake up and they're shocked, absolutely shocked, when their flight home is delayed," said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). "So they take immediate action to carve out an exception that benefits them and the most well-heeled Americans, by and large."
Angered by what he views as hypocrisy by Congress Welch also pushed for a full solution to the budget problem instead of responding only to problems that affect the members of Congress.
"We're all in this together or we're not," Welch said. "It's a sad day in Congress that instead of attacking the real problem that we created, we carve out an exception that's going to benefit members of Congress themselves."
