Lawmakers in the region are divided over a measure to give more flexibility to the FAA while leaving strict spending requirements in place for other parts of the government.
Airport delays caused by the sequester may soon be a thing of the past. The legislation gives the FAA flexibility so air traffic controllers can get back to work.
Critics say those budget cuts only impact a small minority of the public, like business people and lawmakers themselves, while other parts of sequestration are hitting more vulnerable populations, like low income school children.
But will just reversing one agency's cuts hurt lawmaker's ability to undo other parts of the sequester that are less visible? Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine doesn't think so.
“I think we owe it to our citizens to try to find solutions and whether we’re finding small ones or big ones… We ultimately need a big one.”
The FAA bill leaves in place furloughs at other government agencies. On Thursday Virginia Democratic Congressman Jim Moran said he’d oppose the bill, but in the end he went along with the majority of his party.
Democratic leaders vowed to oppose bills undoing just small pieces of sequestration, but they caved to pressure from the airline industry and the flying public just before taking off for a week long recess.
