Ultimately, it was a matter of safety because those communications between the cockpits and
air traffic control towers made sure that planes full of passengers and crew did not crash into each other while taking off and landing (among other dangers).
But there are, as always, political problems — not to mention the fact that $ 50 billion is just simply too small to
make meaningful progress on the number of projects the president included in the plan (upgrading
air traffic control towers, repairing highways).