NTSB to ‘Let Things Go’ Without More Funding

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is “going to have to let some things go,” if budget cuts are not restored, Chairman Deborah Hersman told Bloomberg Television.

Responsible for investigating commercial transportation accidents, the safety board is currently running the most investigations since the 1990s and recently its budget was cut by $5 million because of automatic spending reductions, Bloomberg reported.

Hersman said in an interview with Bloomberg Television the safety board is “getting very stretched,” and it will have to scale down the types of tests it wants to conduct.

“I think if we continue to face additional cuts that the traveling public will not be served and safety will not be served,” Hersman said.

The board is currently investigating a deadly UPS Inc. cargo plane crash, two highway-bridge collapses, a Southwest Airlines hard landing as well as a half-dozen private-plane crashes.