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GOP lawmaker: Obama using sequester 'to drive political agenda'
By Pete Kasperowicz

A House lawmaker said Tuesday that by allowing air traffic controllers to be furloughed, President Obama is using the sequester as a political weapon to make the case for higher taxes.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said the furlough of about 14,000 air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is leading to "politically motivated" flight delays all around the country.

"This administration seems bound and determined to wield their sequester … like a club in order to drive their political agenda," Meadows said on the House floor.

"These unnecessary flight delays are just the latest proof that this administration is clearly more interested in making a political point than coming up with serious solutions to the problems that our nation faces," he said.

Meadows was joined on the floor Tuesday by other Republicans who agreed that Obama should not be furloughing air traffic controllers, and should instead be looking to cut waste in the FAA.

The complaints came on day two of the FAA's furlough of thousands of workers, which has led to delays of several hours in New York and other major airports around the country.

"Once again, the president and his administration chose to act selfishly, for political gain, by cutting the resources for American passengers rather than reducing costs elsewhere and minimizing sequestration's impact," Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said.

Wilson said the furloughs mean people will have longer waits in airports, and noted that on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney "placed politics over leadership by blaming Congress."

Under the sequester, the FAA had to find $600 million in savings. But Republicans said those savings could come from non-operational costs at the administration.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said $2.7 billion in the FAA's budget could be chopped without affecting flights. She said the agency spends $500 million on consultants, $143 million on costs related to the its own fleet of aircraft, and $200 million on "supplies and travel."

"How can this be their only option when the FAA's budget has grown over 110 percent over the past 15 years?" she asked of the FAA's furloughs. "Rather than inflicting unnecessary pain on the American people, President Obama and his FAA should be cutting waste."

"They should stop punishing the American people with flight delays or threats of shuttered air traffic towers and compromised safety, and use the powers they have to cut taxpayer-funded waste first."