President Trump Proposes Privatization Of Air Traffic Control

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump announced plans Monday morning to privatize air traffic control services in the United States, following the lead of other nations who have achieved successful reform through similar measures. You can watch a replay of the announcement below.

“We are prepared to enter a great new era in American aviation,” he said. “It’s time to join the future and make flights quicker, safer, more reliable.”

He also criticized the Obama administration, saying it had failed in attempts to reform the system and wasted billions of dollars. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Several outlets reported over the weekend that the president plans to propose a privatization of the service. Privatization of government-run services is a common feature of conservative reform efforts, and this particular plan seems geared toward partially fulfilling Trump's campaign promise of infrastructure investment. Republican Rep. Bill Schuster has previously pushed for a similar plan, though it went nowhere in Congress.

The president does not have broad authority to reform the Federal Aviation Administration; any significant reforms must require Congress to act.

Some conservatives are skeptical of this push for privatization. Jazz Shaw, a writer at the conservative site Hot Air, worried the plan will be "some union scheme to simply sweep the problem under the rug and wind up costing us more money in the long run."

Watch the replay here.

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Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images