Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is unveiling a multi-billion-dollar plan to upgrade air traffic control technology and hire more controllers in an effort to address recent flight delays, cancellations, and a deadly mid-air crash in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.Duffy said the plan will address problems that have most recently plagued the airport in Newark, New Jersey, where radar systems failed last week, leading to numerous canceled flights. Duffy noted that it could take until the summer for the situation in Newark to improve, but years longer to address a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers, despite previous attacks from the Trump administration on efforts to grow and diversify the workforce. The plan currently on the table, according to Duffy, will require significant support from Congress as well as time."You can't snap your fingers and lay fiber or bring in new radios or new radar," Duffy said. "Those things take time, and we're gonna put the time and the money in. You're going to see the pressure come off the controllers because we're focusing on the experienced end and the trained up and resolve this problem, but all this together it's gonna take a long time."Duffy previously announced plans to shorten the time it takes to get into the air traffic control training academy, improve student success rates, and offer bonuses to experienced controllers.It's unclear if and how much Congress will back up the plan, but the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) recently praised one House committee for approving an additional $12.5 billion in funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, including $1 billion dedicated to hiring more controllers. The funding comes in the face of President Donald Trump's and Republicans' demands for $10 billion in federal spending cuts.But NATCA says it also had to fight another committee to exempt air traffic controllers from a proposal to reduce retirement benefits and job security protections. It remains unclear if the agreements will be included in the final budget.During his first term, Trump also suggested privatizing the air traffic control system to address its decades-old issues. It is unclear whether he supports Duffy's proposal.In a social media post Thursday morning, Trump blamed the current air traffic control problems on the Biden administration and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.