WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pushed back on Sunday against Sen. Brian Schatz’s proposal to shift unspent immigration enforcement money to the Federal Aviation Administration, arguing the United States can fund both border security and safe air travel. Duffy made the case on Fox News Sunday as the fallout continued from Friday’s nationwide air traffic control outage.
Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, wrote on X that a pot of $60 billion in extra money on top of ICE’s regular appropriation should be partly used for the FAA. “We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars,” he wrote. Duffy told Fox News Sunday that he has “no money for a new network,” pressing Congress to approve emergency funding to replace the country’s aging air traffic control systems.
Duffy has asked Congress for $50 billion in emergency funding to replace air traffic control hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and facilities, saying on Friday: “This is an emergency.” He did not provide a detailed breakdown of the figure. Earlier on Friday, before the outage, Duffy and White House budget director Russell Vought asked lawmakers for $30.1 billion for aviation infrastructure, including $10.1 billion for air traffic control modernization and $18 billion for airport projects. Congress had previously approved $12.5 billion over five years for air traffic control improvements in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. That funding, available through September 2029, was designated for replacing aging telecommunications and radar systems and for building and modernizing air traffic control facilities.
The funding fight centres on money Congress provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Congress gave ICE $74.85 billion in supplemental funding in 2025, including $45 billion for detention and $29.85 billion for enforcement and related operations. About $61 billion remained unobligated as of June 30, according to Democratic staff on the Senate Budget Committee. Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections and could seek to rescind unobligated ICE funding after the new Congress takes office in January.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, pushed back on Schatz’s idea on Newsmax on Saturday, saying, “I would hate to rob from one security agency to provide security somewhere else,” and noting that both the FAA and ICE share the same top priority: “Keep Americans safe.” Richard Ojeda, the Democratic representative-elect for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, called for taking $50 billion from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for rebuilding infrastructure.
The executive branch cannot simply move the money. A 2023 Congressional Research Service report says transfers between appropriations accounts are prohibited without specific statutory authority. Congress has three routes: it could pass legislation rescinding unobligated ICE funds and appropriating the money to the FAA, enact specific transfer authority, or provide new aviation funding without offsetting it against ICE’s budget.
The debate follows Friday’s nationwide air traffic control outage, which grounded flights across the United States. Duffy said outdated switches and routers became overloaded with data, producing inconsistent information, and blamed contractor L3Harris for the failure. He said the FAA did not completely lose radar or communications and was able to bring aircraft down safely. The immediate problem was repaired and flying was safe, he said, but similar breakdowns could occur unless aging equipment is replaced.
