Richard Durbin

“The notion that your agency has failed to reach an agreement with air traffic controllers that they find satisfactory means that what you are requesting must not benefit controllers,” they wrote.

Bedford previously told the Washington Examiner that working with the controllers’ union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, to get “as much utilization out of our workforce as we can” would help “unlock the 2.8%,” which Duckworth and Durbin cited in their letter as evidence that the administrator is not following Congress’s direction.

“Holding air traffic controllers’ remaining 2.8 percent pay increase hostage to force a workforce that has operated under mandatory overtime for years to work longer hours is petty, disrespectful and counterproductive,” the senators said. “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 FAA has previously pushed back on the notion that the agency was contravening Congress, pointing to language in the law that gives the administrator discretion to implement the increase after determining that certain operational improvements have been achieved.

The statute gives the administrator “sole discretion” to make that determination and provides that, if the determination is made, the pay adjustment would be retroactive to the first pay period beginning after Jan. 1. Additionally, the statute does not prescribe the specific scheduling or staffing changes Bedford must achieve before making that determination.

Bedford said he wants to reevaluate how employees are deployed throughout the day.

Duckworth and Durbin specifically took issue with Bedford’s plan to focus on workforce utilization, saying his objective could hurt air traffic controllers in the long run.

“Squeezing more ‘utilization’ out of air traffic controllers who have been understaffed, underpaid, and over worked for years will weaken retention and undermine aviation safety,” they said.

FAA LEAVES AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER RAISES IN LIMBO AMID MOUNTING STRAIN ON SYSTEM

Duckworth and Durbin ended their letter by urging Bedford to approve the pay raise “rightfully earned” by air traffic controllers, noting that the administration has “moved quickly” to obligate money for air traffic control equipment.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the FAA for comment.