Senate passes bill to end controller furloughs The U.S. Senate revived and passed a measure to end air-traffic controller furloughs as most members were flying home on recess, after four days of flight delays blamed on staffing shortages from budget cuts. The Senate unanimously approved a hastily assembled proposal by senators including West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller and South Dakota Republican John Thune, after leaders in both parties vetted it with members late Thursday night. It would let the Federal Aviation Administration move as much as $253 million within its budget to end furloughs and prevent the closing of 149 privately operated control towers June 15. Without that maneuver, no bill could have been passed before the Senate returned from recess on May 6. The House is in session tomorrow, which could allow lawmakers there to consider it before leaving on their recess. The legislation will "resolve a serious problem confronting the American traveling public and our economy," said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who also worked on the proposal. Allowing the FAA to restore funding for the full controller workforce "should prevent the onerous delays that have been occurring and were only going to get worse as the traveling season reached its peak this summer," she said. Flight delays since rolling furloughs of controllers began April 21 have become the focus of the debate on mandatory spending cuts known as sequestration and fueled calls from airlines and airport operators for a solution. "Common sense tells all of us that this can't go on," Southwest Airlines Co. Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said in an interview earlier today. It does need a quick resolution. Collins and Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, introduced a bill earlier in the day to let the FAA use airport-improvement funds to pay controllers. Rockefeller and Thune, the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate commerce committee, had worked on another proposal to give the FAA more authority to move money around within its budget. Senators John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, and Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, proposed similar legislation. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that the Obama administration is willing to consider resolving the FAA's budget woes separately from other agencies. "If Congress wants to address specifically the problems caused by the sequester with the FAA, we would be open to looking at that," Carney told reporters. But that would be a Band-Aid measure. The House's transportation leader said during a press briefing today he's been "resisting" any Senate approach that would give the FAA more money. "We don't need to spend one more penny on the FAA," Representative Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said. The FAA has the authority it needs to shift funds to limit controller furloughs, Shuster said.