Quick, before the applause dies down on the final act of “Funding the Friendly Skies” – starring the U.S. Congress – let’s briefly review the way this little melodrama unfolded shall we?
 

Act I

President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal requests $15,146,000,000 for the FAA. Congress, knowing the sequester was looming on the horizon, magnanimously appropriates $862,000,000 more than that, for a new total of $16.008 billion.
 

Act II

Sequester kicks in; FAA budget drops to $15,371,000,000 (But that’s still $225 million more than the president’s original request).
 

 
Adverse effects appear to be minimal… until air-traffic controllers are furloughed. Flight delays ensue. Traveling public is inconvenienced and annoyed – deliberately so (Part of Obama’s “Harm Offensive”) – and complaining loudly.
 

Act III

Anxious to take advantage of the situation, Senators summon their faux concern and rush in to the rescue, diligently working late Thursday night – just before the congressional weeklong recess (after all, they’ll need to fly home) – to demonstrate their selfless dedication.
Not to be outdone, the House follows suit today, quickly approving the new bill proposed by the Senate ~

The measure will let the Department of Transportation transfer $253 million in FAA funding into the operations account that pays for air traffic controller salaries…
…the bill includes an extra $21 million beyond what’s needed to pay for the controller salaries.

Source: Politico
(Aren’t they generous? With our money! 😡 )

Back-slapping and self-congratulations ensue.
Curtain falls.
 

Encore

Left takes advantage of this episode to once more demonize heartless Republicans for allowing (Obama’s) sequestration to go through in the first place.
Because of course, no matter how much the GOP compromises, it’s never enough to alleviate the (government-imposed) suffering, or satisfy the White House ~

“This is a one-off case, if you will, the sequester itself cannot be finessed. It is having negative consequences around the country.”

~ Press Secretary Jay Carney
 

Entertaining little tableau wasn’t it? Our Roman Senate is always happy to oblige with more bread & circuses for we the peasants.

Behind the scenes

 
As Phil Kerpen at American Commitment points out, the worst part of this whole charade was that the flight delays have been totally unnecessary (other than to maintain the ruling class’ phony narrative) ~
• FAA management seems indifferent to fiscal responsibility
• The agency is actually over-staffed; since 2000 air traffic has declined 23 percent, but the controller headcount has actually gone up
• Contrary to their claims, the agency does have flexibility to reallocate some of the budget cuts
 
Congress didn’t bother pointing out any of these facts though. They just zoomed in the save us all from a “crisis” they helped to manufacture.
 
Kerpen ends with this ~

The jig is up on Obama’s ridiculous flight delay stunt. It’s time to stop playing games and admit that sequestration is nothing like the huge, savage spending cuts the president tried to scare the American people about. In fact, it’s only a small first step toward the much bigger cuts that are needed to limit the size and intrusiveness of the federal government.

But Phil, the play-acting is so much more fun…