Unidentified staff cites $12.5 billion to speed air-traffic control modernization

Unidentified Respondent, a staff member, said the U.S. House included $12.5 billion for air-traffic control modernization and that work will proceed, but “It takes time to lay fiber,” emphasizing the long lead times for upgrading aging equipment.

The comment came after an attendee asked whether air-traffic control modernization would be a priority at the meeting. The staff member said the funding—first provided in the House—will help accelerate work but warned the physical upgrades are not immediate.

Why it matters: the staff member described existing equipment as outdated, saying, "we are using copper. We are using floppy disks," and criticized the NextGen program as unsuccessful. The speaker said multiple actors—the American people, Congress, the Department of Transportation, the president and the Federal Aviation Administration—are aligned on making modernization a reality.

Details from the exchange: the unidentified staff member said the work will "move faster" with new funding and that the project requires building fiber and other infrastructure that cannot be completed quickly. The staff member said, verbatim, “You gave us $12,500,000,000 that started in the house, and I'm grateful for the money that the house gave us. You're gonna see us move faster, and see this build.” The speaker also said, "NextGen has, I think, been a complete failure."

No formal action or timeline was announced in the transcript. The remarks were explanatory and responsive to a question rather than a motion or formal directive recorded in the meeting transcript.

The transcript does not identify the speaker by name or official title beyond the speaker's own references to federal agencies and funding; the amount and criticisms quoted above are taken directly from the remarks captured in the meeting record.