The Region - News from May 26, 1987

Sen. Alan Cranston--echoing earlier complaints of some other Democratic members of Congress--said that President Reagan is freezing funds in the Aviation Trust Fund in an effort to reduce the apparent size of the deficit in the federal budget. The fund, established in 1970 to promote aviation safety, is financed by taxes on airline tickets, air freight and aviation fuel. Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget says the money is being held up because of technological problems, but the California senator told a Los Angeles International Airport news conference that the Administration is “keeping the money to make the deficit look better,” instead of spending it, as intended, “to make flying safer and more convenient.”