Sequester Story Crashes After Congress Ends Airport Furloughs

Budget cuts were back in the headlines until Congress caved on airport furloughs after outrage over flight delays. Now the media has lost interest again—likely for good, says Howard Kurtz.

But after that New Year’s Day compromise that involved a hike for the richest taxpayers, the sequester—$85 billion in automatic budget cuts that were once deemed so drastic as to be unthinkable—went into effect on March 1. And promptly vanished from the media radar.

That is, until delays started mounting at the nation’s airports and Congress panicked. Lawmakers practically broke the sound barrier in racing to pass legislation giving the FAA authority to shift money and end the furloughs of air traffic controllers.

That story instantly gained altitude for several reasons. The stampede to undo just one small part of the sequester that directly affected members of Congress, who fly home every weekend, was irresistible. The tide of public anger at the stupidity of the situation packed an additional wallop (and it’s not hard to send an Action News reporter to the local airport and find ticked-off customers facing two-hour delays).