Obama calls for increased NextGen spending

President Obama unveiled during a Labor Day speech a $50 billion proposal for spending on nationwide transportation infrastructure, including on air traffic modernization.

According to a White House fact sheet, the proposed spending would include a "a robust investment in our effort to modernize the nation's air traffic control system (NextGen)."

"We're going to restore 150 miles of runways and advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers--I think everybody can agree on that," Obama said during his speech, delivered before an audience attending annual union festival in Milwaukee, Wis.

NextGen is a series of projects that collectively should replace today's radar air traffic control system with a satellite-based system capable of automation and of handling up to three times more air traffic than is currently possible. A June 2010 Transportation Department inspector general report charged that current FAA management of NextGen "ultimately puts billions of taxpayer dollars at risk."

Details of the president's proposal, such as how much additional money could be spent on NextGen or on which NextGen projects, weren't immediately available. Republican leaders quickly moved to criticize the plan.

Congress has yet to approve appropriation bills funding the Transportation Department for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. However, appropriations committees from both chambers have marked up their versions of the Transportation spending bill, with the House overall adding $14.1 million to the NextGen funding request but with the Senate subtracting $78 million from it.

For more:
- read the text of Obama's Labor Day address
- go to the White House fact sheet accompanying Obama's speech
- see criticism from House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

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