Why?
Answer after the jump.
Per Washington Post:
We often wonder how all of the BS in Congress can possibly affect our day to day lives. And, assuming that it doesn't or can't, we go on about our business completely unaware of what those 435 people in Congress are doing (or, as the case may be, not doing). Well folks, I'm here to tell you that my life has just been directly affected by Congress and I can't appreciate it. In this case I was on my way home, but what if I had been racing back to see a dying relative? Or what if I needed to get to a business deal on time? These kind of unnecessary delays are unacceptable and should not be tolerated by any of us. Yet somehow I don't see enough people getting pissed off enough to vote their conscience on this issue. Make no mistake about it, making things into a voting issue is the only way that we can influence Congress to get up off of their collective lazy asses and do anything other than focusing on their own reelection.
Thanks a lot, Congress.
QUESTIONS:
Has this happened to you?
Do you have a flight to catch over the next 6 months?
Were you hoping to get there on time?
What if you flew back for a family or business event and missed the entire event due to this mess?
Can we get rid of the entire Congress and just start over?
Per Washington Post:
After months of inside-the-Beltway drama, the impact of sequestration cutbacks moved to center stage America on Monday as the aviation system was slowed by the furlough of 1,500 air traffic controllers.
With about 10 percent of the controllers who direct 23,000 planes a day scheduled to be off daily until October, both industry and government officials forecast that the effect would snowball as the nation enters peak travel season.
Short on staff and besieged by brisk winds at the three big New York area airports, controllers fell behind by mid-morning Monday and never caught up. The Newark, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports reported delays of one to three hours.
Most flights from the major Washington area airports ran close to on time, but some headed to New York faced long delays on the ground.
When New York’s three mega-airports fall behind schedule, that often has a ripple effect as far as the West Coast. By mid-afternoon Monday, flights into the US Airways hub in Charlotte were late in arriving; by evening, airports in Miami and Los Angeles reported lengthy delays because of controller shortages. Meanwhile, an ice storm at Denver’s airport further gummed up the system.
As TV crews panned across anxious and angry passengers in New York terminals, the debate revived in Washington over whether the controller furloughs announced last week were necessary or a White House ploy to dramatize the effects of sequestration.
“Our aviation system should not be used as a pawn in budget debate,” said Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association. “The livelihood of our economy is dependent on air commerce, and the financial strength of our airlines and the people they employ are at risk.”
He predicted that delays would spread in the weeks ahead if the Federal Aviation Administration presses on with a plan to recoup $200 million of the $637 million it must cut to meet sequestration goals this fiscal year.
After the furlough plan was presented last week, House Republicans insisted that FAA cuts should be made elsewhere and the airlines went to court in an attempt to block them. The Obama administration brushed off suggestions that air travel had become “a political football,” but crowds of delayed passengers undoubtedly made better television than announcements that federal office workers would have to take unpaid days off.
The FAA has estimated that a third of passengers will face delays during the furloughs, with up to 6,700 flights arriving late at more than a dozen major airports each day. On the worst travel day of 2012, when severe weather crippled the system, about 3,000 flights were delayed.
We often wonder how all of the BS in Congress can possibly affect our day to day lives. And, assuming that it doesn't or can't, we go on about our business completely unaware of what those 435 people in Congress are doing (or, as the case may be, not doing). Well folks, I'm here to tell you that my life has just been directly affected by Congress and I can't appreciate it. In this case I was on my way home, but what if I had been racing back to see a dying relative? Or what if I needed to get to a business deal on time? These kind of unnecessary delays are unacceptable and should not be tolerated by any of us. Yet somehow I don't see enough people getting pissed off enough to vote their conscience on this issue. Make no mistake about it, making things into a voting issue is the only way that we can influence Congress to get up off of their collective lazy asses and do anything other than focusing on their own reelection.
Thanks a lot, Congress.
QUESTIONS:
Has this happened to you?
Do you have a flight to catch over the next 6 months?
Were you hoping to get there on time?
What if you flew back for a family or business event and missed the entire event due to this mess?
Can we get rid of the entire Congress and just start over?