Trump Holds Signing to Sign Nothing

This Monday, President Trump announced that he would be privatizing the nations Air Traffic Control System. This move would remove the job of guiding and tracking airplanes from the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump stated that, “Today we’re proposing to take American air travel into the future finally.” The old air traffic control system was created when far fewer people were flying, he called it “ancient, broken, antiquated”, and “horrible.”

After his announcement, Trump sat down at his desk to sign two documents. However, there was an issue with this. The documents that the President was signing had no tangible impact whatsoever on what he had just proposed.

Reporters from the White House said that Trump, “a decision memo and letter transmitting legislative principles to Congress,” regarding the privatization of the Air Traffic Control System, which he had spent the previous minutes advocating for. However, in order for his goal to be reached, legislation needs to be passed by Congress before it is implemented.

Prior to giving remarks Monday, White House Officials expressed to reporters that the President was only dictating his legislative agenda regarding the separation of the Air Traffic Control System. Unfortunately for Trump, Congress is not required to follow through on the President’s goals.

His recent proposal was based on legislation that was introduced by Pennsylvania Republican representative, Bill Shuster. Shuster is the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The bill has faced bipartisan opposition in the Senate and it has not made it to the House floor to vote.

According to the bill, a private, nonprofit corporation would be developed in order to operate, manage, and control air traffic control nationwide, a similar system to Canada. While the FAA would still hold some oversight capacity, the board would be made up of primarily representatives of the major airlines, who would govern this corporation.

Featured Image via  AP Photos/Richard Drew