President Trump has put the blame for Friday’s nationwide flight shutdown on Joe Biden, and he wants Congress to hand over the money to fix America’s crumbling air traffic control system “FAST!”
In posts on Truth Social shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, the president broke his silence on the ground stop that froze flights across the country for more than four hours, calling the previous administration’s handling of the Federal Aviation Administration a disaster.
“The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster. Everything they touched turned bad. Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began. We have the knowledge and plan for the Flight Control Systems, we need Congress to give the money, FAST! Our FAA is doing a great job, and is ready to go.”
President Donald J. Trump, Truth Social
Trump shared that message along with an article headlined “Trump admin rips Biden admin handling of air traffic control after FAA ground stop.”
“Much of our current air control system is 50 years old”
Minutes later, the president followed up with another post making his case directly to lawmakers:
“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of our current air control system is 50 years old – RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs. Congress must approve. The Biden Administration set it back years!”
He also told followers he was at the White House working: “I am in the White House having meetings on many subjects. Very exciting times for the USA. Great things are happening – We are the ‘hottest’ Country anywhere in the World!”
What happened Friday
The FAA halted departures nationwide on Friday after what officials described as instability in radar and communications at certain facilities. The stoppage lasted more than four hours, the longest ground stop in 25 years, and affected about a quarter of the roughly 45,000 flights the U.S. handles each day. Airlines canceled thousands more flights Saturday as they worked to recover.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the trouble began when contractor L3Harris Technologies was replacing a section of the system’s old copper wire with new fiber, somehow causing the system to overload. Officials are investigating whether contractor error or a faulty router was to blame. “Our contractor didn’t meet the moment or the equipment didn’t meet the moment,” Duffy said. L3Harris said it is supporting the FAA’s investigation.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the U.S. air travel schedule should be back to normal by the end of Sunday, declaring that the “worst is behind us.”
From $30 billion to $50 billion
The administration is pressing Congress hard for the money. On Thursday, Duffy and White House budget director Russ Vought formally asked appropriators for $30.1 billion to keep modernizing the system. After Friday’s outage, Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raised the request to $50 billion for what Mullin called a “complete overhaul of the system.”
“This is an emergency. I want $50 billion. President Trump is a builder. He’s going to build this network and deliver for the American people. But the president can’t deliver for America unless the Congress delivers the money to make it happen.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
“We need someone to come in and build the whole system,” Mullin said. “Nickel and diming it together does not work.”
Republicans already set aside $12.5 billion for air traffic control in the July 2025 reconciliation law, money Duffy and Vought have called a “down payment.” Senate Commerce Committee Republicans noted that the last time a new air route traffic control center was built, Lyndon B. Johnson was president.
The bottom line
Trump’s message is simple: the system is decades old, the plan is ready, and the only thing standing between American travelers and the best air traffic control system in the world is Congress writing the check.