Ed Pastor News

BREAKING: CHUCK HAGEL TO ANNOUNCE 11 FURLOUGH DAYS The defense secretary plans to announce today the Pentagon will furlough about 800,000 civilian employees due to sequestration, but for just 11 days, not 14 or even 22 as previously considered, POLITICO's Stephanie Gaskell reports: http://politi.co/YGIxwQ Hagel, who is planning exemptions for ... (more)

Congressman Ed Pastor joins Congressman Trent Franks's efforts to block the Tohono O'odham Nation from building a casino in the West Valley.

The vote came only after a bruising debate over budget priorities, with many lawmakers wondering why Congress was so quick to help air travelers and not programs that affect schools, poverty or other areas.

Lawmakers passed a bill Friday to ease air traffic delays before catching their own flights home for a week off, leaving unchanged other painful effects of the across-the-board spending cuts mandated by Congress' sequestration law.

As reports of air traffic delays from AOPA members, airline employees, and the FAA mount, the association has been actively working on Capitol Hill to educate many members of Congress on the importance of aviation and the vital role air traffic controllers serve in keeping the National Airspace System operating safely and efficiently.

Landing and taxi runways are seen from the air traffic control tower at the Salisbury-Ocean City: Wicomico Regional Airport in Salisbury, Md.