Airport ground stop: Are we funding FAA enough?

The FAA has declared a nationwide ground stop. Trump administration officials blamed a telecommunication outage which said they really did not know its cause and that it would take some time to fix the issue. They say they do not expect foul play, but they didn't rule anything out completely, so it may in fact be a cyber attack. At this stage, we simply do not know. We are waiting for a news conference from the White House, from the briefing room there, from Mark Wayne Mullen. Homeland Security and also the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, we will take that as soon as it happens. Nearly 10,000 flights have been delayed and more than 4,000 flights canceled across the country. The last full ground stop came three years ago after a pilot warning system went down. That stop lasted 90 minutes. This one has been in progress now for about four hours. It's going to take a long time to recuperate. Lawmakers and officials will have their hands full working on diagnosing this issue and preventing it from happening again. Just three days ago, the FAA said it expanded the new artificial intelligence-supported air traffic management tool to all 22 of its air route traffic control centers. Not clear whether that system has anything to do with what's happening now. They say that it doesn't. At least, they don't think so. Some flights have been allowed to take off during the stop heading toward Europe and heading toward Asia because they're leaving American airspace. According to flight tracking websites, a flight headed for the Netherlands took off from Atlanta about an hour ago and other international flights were allowed to leave from New York and Boston and from the West Coast. Alaska Airlines released a statement saying flights within Alaska, inter-island flights in Hawaii and flights from the West Coast to Hawaii have not been affected by the ground stop. Senator Tammy Duckworth, the leading Democrat on aviation in the Senate's Transportation Committee, said, quote, Whatever led to the nationwide ground stop will warrant a thorough and complete investigation. I'll be demanding answers from the FAA and so will the entire country for that matter. So let's bring in Brian and Andre. Gentlemen, we don't know, just to emphasize, we don't know what's going on, but what we do know for a fact is that the infrastructure at the FAA and in our air traffic control system is decades old. There's been talk for a long time about spending tens of billions of dollars to upgrade the copper wire to fiber and replace machines that are probably almost as old as I am. So, Brian, what's your response to all this? Well, you know, one thing I have long said is we have neglected our infrastructure spending, particularly as we have moved our spending more toward entitlements. Two-thirds of our federal government go toward Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, you know, those direct-to-consumer programs. And look, they're very important to many Americans in need. But they have diverted money away from the infrastructure spending that does grow our economy and that It's essential to the future of the country, and I don't know how with $40 trillion in debt, as we have right now, that it will be possible to, and I apologize for the dog, how it will be possible for us to really invest in what we really need in this program. Well, you know, Andre, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said this afternoon in his first briefing outside the White House that people naturally wondered whether this might be a cyber attack. And he acknowledged that that was the first thing that came to the top of mind, especially after the Microsoft Outlook outage yesterday. Thank Gosh, they haven't really ruled that out. What do you think? Well, we don't know what we don't know. We aren't sure of the origin of this attack or how we got here. And I'm sure that there, you know, to the senator's point, will be a thorough investigation about how we got here. Now, we can obviously speculate about the age of the technology and you. the ability of the technology to go down. We've heard of reporting about the, you know, deploying of new technology. We just don't know. What we do know is something this catastrophic When it comes to an entire industry being down, cannot happen again. And so whatever occurred, we have to get to a full understanding of how we got here, how to prevent it from ever happening, and how to create some systems of redundancy to ensure that we aren't doing that. Because the question becomes, why are they grounding all the flights? And the answer is because... If these planes are in the sky and we don't have proper ways to communicate with them, then we don't know how they're landing, where they're landing. And it's a delicate dance that happens in the air every day as these planes go overhead and as they're landing that involves high-stress communication from towers and individuals in towers between pilots. And so it's very important that this technology work and work well in the 21st century. And it's also time to, you know, upgrade. And because it's regularly run down and we talk about politics and policy, you know, Brian mentioned entitlements. I will mention what I think perhaps causes an underinvestment in our infrastructure. And that is cutting taxes on the wealthiest 1% of individuals who are experiencing record profits. And as opposed to saying individuals, you know, who are on fixed incomes, seniors, social security, vulnerable populations should be entitled to perhaps less. We should say that those folks that have had the benefit of the American economy. To create intergenerational wealth, 200, 300 years worth, should be making the investment into our infrastructure today. And so some of the tax cuts and the reduction in tax cuts, and I'm not talking about if you make $10 million. I'm talking about those folks that are making tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars. These are the types of investments that they should be helping to shoulder to ensure that they get the benefit of this American economy, which is the envy of the world, but it requires investment to keep operating at a high level. Well, I mean, we are at $40 trillion in debt in this country. How do we get to $40 trillion in debt, Brian, and not spend money to have an FAA that is not vulnerable to cyber attack, whether or not this was a cyber attack? The fact that the machinery that makes this whole thing work is, in many cases, decades old, makes us all vulnerable. I've got to believe that in this new Congress, there will be some bipartisan support to fix this and fix it quickly. I would certainly hope so. But look, I mean, this is the same is true of our bridges and the amount of highway infrastructure that we're going to need to build over the next 50 years. It amounts to billions and billions, tens of billions just in Georgia alone, much less the rest of the country. So we will have to have a really smart effort. I think AI could be really important in how we plan this to make sure that we're spending money as efficiently As possible, I think we can perhaps save money with AI by lowering the human cost of operating some of these very elaborate, complex, and heavily staffed air travel systems. So there are ways, as technology advances, for us to find cost savings that allow us to invest in it. And I hope that is going to be a savior for us, because with $40 trillion in debt, we're becoming a bit of an investment hazard for global investors. They might want to start putting their money somewhere else if we look like a bad bet. And... As we get to now past $40 trillion, a larger share than ever will be going toward debt payment and interest payments on the debt. So we are taking even further away from the investments in the future that we lead. And I do want to say, I want to respond real quick to John Ray. I hear you on the tax cuts, but I'll say this. For the most part, No matter what we do with the tax rate, the... The share of GDP that goes toward taxes is about 20%. It may be a little below, it may be a little above. But if you try to shoot it up too far beyond 20%, people start looking for tax shelters and getting their money out of the country, which is a net loss for the country. It's got to be a good place for people's money to be parked or we create other problems. So there is a balance there. There's only so much juice to squeeze out of the lemon. And so we've got to have smart tech policy that gives us enough to fund our priorities. That is fair. And I'm going to surprise you a little bit on this. I'm going to surprise you just a little bit. I believe in the free market, as you know, and I am a free market Republican, which is a dying breed, right? I think so many are becoming populist and want government controls. I don't believe in them. I think the market makes better decisions. I believe capitalism creates wealth better than any other system in the world. But I think the way that we preserve capitalism and democracy is to have a social safety net that cuts off the rough edges of capitalism. So that is kind of where I can kind of move toward Democrats a little bit. But I believe that we've got to move away from the entitlement spending and toward, which is in many ways, investments in our past and start investing in infrastructure, which are investments in our future. Well, which entitlements would you cut? Look, we can't put people on Social Security for a third of their lives. When it was created at the age that it is now, it was for a generation that was supposed to die in their 60s, that generally did die in their 60s. I was with my 94-year-old grandmother on Thursday after giving a speech in Columbia County. She's been on Social Security for close to 40 years now, maybe more than 40 years now. That's not sustainable. And I love my grandma. I'm glad she has that social safety net. But that's not sustainable. And I think we've got to start paying people at a later portion of their life, maybe have some carve-outs for people who've done hard labor and people in some blue-collar professions. But for people like Andre, who doesn't have any calluses on his hands, he does not need to be getting a government check when he's 62. That's outrageous. And now we got old Bernie Sanders. Newly empowered in the Senate majority wanting to lower the Medicare age to 55, which is like throwing gas on a burning building. This is ridiculous. We need to be raising it, not lowering it. So, you know, Russ... Well, 50, 50, Andre, you got to admit, 55 would be nuts. Yeah, Russ, you know, what I hear from Brian is the reason why millennials are completely... I'm demoralized in some respect about the future of our country because of that thinking, which is we pay into Social Security. I've been paying into Social Security since I was 16. That's when I had my first job, right? And so the idea that now through hard work, thrift and organization, and I would somehow forfeit those benefits that I've been paying into the system since I was 17 or 16 and I had my first job is nonsensical, not on my behalf as an individual, but on behalf of all those folks that have been doing it. Here's the issue that millennials have with the current leadership and octogenarians that have been running this country, is that they have built systems that have worked fabulously for themselves. And as soon as the next generation comes along, it's let's move the ball. So for a public education, it looks like telling my generation, go to high school, go to college, get as much education as you can. And we did, and we are the most educated. You know, driven generation when it comes to going to have educational attainment. And there is research that suggests that we are one of the smartest generations in American history. And by that, I mean millennials in terms of formal education and ability to engage in the workforce. And what we've been given is an economy that underpays us and overworks us and opportunities, quite frankly, that don't match up with the cost of living. Then we have this discussion with, you know, Brian about Social Security. It's like, well, actually, you should work longer into the future and not have an opportunity to retire. Our point is when it comes to our economy, our economy and when it comes to my point about the tax rate rate is big companies. If this country goes down, we'll have the luxury to relocate. If they don't, you know, cease to exist, big companies will find a fairer shore. But the American people, you know, people like me that, you know, people like Brian and people across the income category who don't have the luxury of picking up stakes and moving to another country will be here and attached to this American experiment. I can't experiment. And so we have to hold these. It's individuals and entities that have benefited and made a lot of money in our economy and say that the cost of doing business here is investing in the people and it's not just giving people jobs. Yes, you get people jobs, but you get their productivity, but it's making the investment in the infrastructure so that people can age in place with dignity, so that people can get higher education and ensure that they are able to educate themselves and their children because we know a more educated population is good for everybody. So that people can live out to their best. In my opinion, I don't know that we keep that promise. As well as we should, and I think we have to renew our commitment to that promise so that we can be the country that we want to be through the 21st century. All right, gentlemen, we're going to take a quick break here. We're waiting on that news conference from the White House, from the Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We'll bring that to you live as soon as it happens. And in the meantime, when we come back on Red Clay Rundown, we are going to talk about young people voting. They did so in big numbers in these midterms, and we'll talk about that after this.