Taking quick action to fix a problem that was created by politics and did not have to happen, Congress moved to ease the frustration caused by flight delays at U.S. airports.

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday and the House voted Friday to give the Federal Aviation Administration spending flexibility to end the furloughs that were causing delays for many flights. Shortages of air-traffic controllers caused airport frustrations for travelers and were likely to cost airlines millions of dollars.

The flight delays were a mess — and most likely avoidable.

The airport headaches were caused by the sequester, the across-the-board budget cuts imposed because Congress and the White House could not agree on larger budget reductions to cut the deficit.

While the White House and Department of Transportation insist the sequester-related furloughs and resulting flight delays were unavoidable, it looked to many as though the White House, which objected to the sequester, wanted to make any budget cuts both visible and unpleasant for the American public for political reasons.

The legislation, passed Thursday and Friday, will give the FAA authority to shift money from long-term airport improvement projects and from other spending categories to pay for air-traffic controllers. That simple prioritization should put an end to the sequester-related delays.

If giving the FAA some flexibility to set spending priorities solved this mini-crisis, maybe Congress should give other departments similar spending flexibility.

The White House wants people to believe that it’s not possible to slow the rate of federal spending by 5 percent without causing serious hardship to the American public. Most people have their doubts — and see politics at work.

Cheer Perhaps some work behind the scenes is positioning Glade Run Lake for quicker repairs than previously seemed possible.Gerry Woomer, a representative of the state Fish and Boat Commission, told those in attendance at a Glade Run Lake Conservancy meeting Thursday that, despite the lack of money to repair the recreational site at this time, a design consultant is preparing the now-drained lake for the time when the money becomes available.Woomer said the consultant’s effort is 95 percent completed in terms of design work, identifying remedies for spillway replacement and adding a drainage system to the lake’s design plans.Once that work is completed and there’s money in hand, the project will be able to begin quickly, because the preliminary work will have been done.The conservancy has raised just $115,000 of the $4 million needed to bring the lake back to life. But a healthier state and national economy could free up grant money not now available — and that money will go to projects ready to proceed.It’s to be hoped Glade Run is one of them.The commission deserves praise for moving ahead with the consultant’s work, and the conservancy merits plaudits for its unwavering enthusiasm in trying to raise money on the lake’s behalf.The conservancy should continue to hold public meetings to keep county residents updated on the lake-restoration effort.

Jeer U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, shouldn’t be surprised if President Barack Obama doesn’t immediate drop everything he’s doing to go to bat for Westinghouse Electric Co.’s bid to build two nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.Kelly has been an opponent of most of what Obama has done or proposed to do since the local representative was elected to Congress. Kelly prefers to cling tighly to the wishes of House Speaker John Boehner rather than also being a voice of reason in pushing for cooperation between the legislative and executive branches in order to try to get important work done.Regarding Westinghouse, Kelly authored a bipartisan letter urging the president to convey his support to Czech President Milos Zeman on behalf of the company’s bid. The letter was sent to the White House during the past week, having been co-signed by Pennsylvania’s full delegation to the U.S. House and Senate.A Russian company also is seeking he Czech contract.Kelly’s remarks in regard to the bipartisan letter are true:“Westinghouse is working hard to sustain thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania and deserves the full support of our country’s leadership in making it (contract) happen” — and Obama no doubt recognizes the importance of the Czech pact.But in knowing where to turn for help, Kelly should not be so prone to criticize the administration for virtually everything else.Kelly is trying to work on behalf of the people of this country, and those efforts should be appreciated. But so is Obama.Rather than offering immediate and predictable criticism of nearly every Obama effort and proposal, Kelly should try to be a strong voice for reasonable compromise, which Kelly hasn’t yet done.If he’d do that, perhaps Obama would give Kelly’s requests higher priority than what they’re likely to get now.