Government Executive · Erich Wagner · September 8, 2026
Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, both D-Ill., last week urged Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford to greenlight the remaining 70% of a pay raise Congress appropriated for air traffic controllers last April. As part of the spending package that ended the 76-day shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, Congress authorized a 3.8% pay raise for federal air traffic controllers, backdated to January, and set aside $140 million in appropriations to pay for it. But Washington Examiner reported last month that Bedford has thus far only authorized a 1% raise and has withheld the remaining 2.8% increase. That’s because the law authorizing the pay increase granted him “sole discretion” to ensure improvements in “workforce scheduling, staffing utilization or other operational efficiencies” first. “I can tell you many examples I’ve looked at would indicate there is a lot we can do to better utilize the limited staff we have when there’s actually traffic to control, as opposed to having lots of staff around when there’s very limited traffic to control,” Bedford told the Examiner. But in a letter to Bedford, the Democratic senators described the law’s conditions as “not a high bar” and said leadership is asking for too much from the beleaguered ATC workforce, who are already chronically understaffed and overworked in one of the most stressful government jobs. They suggested Bedford is using the pending pay raise as leverage in negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to further increase employees’ workloads. “Holding air traffic controllers’ remaining 2.8% pay increase hostage to force a workforce that has operated under mandatory overtime for years to work longer hours is petty, disrespectful and counterproductive,” Duckworth and Durbin wrote. “Whether the Trump administration’s Brand New Air Traffic Control System succeeds or fails will depend on the morale of the people expected to run it.” The fracas over the pay raise comes as the Trump administration takes a more punitive approach to air traffic controllers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested ATCs could be “punished” if they called in sick during another government shutdown last fall, and the FAA moved to fire two air traffic controllers at LaGuardia Airport after they left work early upon completing their duties—a common practice across the agency—which reportedly contributed to a crash between an Air Canada jet and a firetruck last March. Further stretching air traffic controllers’ hours or workloads will lead to more safety incidents, not less, the senators wrote. “Squeezing more ‘utilization’ out o fair traffic controllers who have been understaffed, underpaid and overworked for years will weaken retention and undermine aviation safety,” they wrote. “Your own [workforce] plan says as much: ‘Chronic use of overtime leads to fatigue, controller burnout and ultimately loss of retention.’” ]]>