Congress-FAA Furloughs
The brinksmanship over the budget and debt limit isn't the only game of Legislative Chicken being played out in Washington, D.C., as the Federal Aviation Administration is heading for a partial shutdown because of a dispute between House Republicans and Senate Democrats.
At issue is the legislation that authorizes the operations of the FAA; a full re-authorization bill has not been passed by the Congress in over four years, as instead, the Congress has approved 20 short term extensions, 17 of them while Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.
Extension #21 runs out Friday night at midnight, meaning as many as 4,000 FAA workers in 35 states and Washington, D.C. will be furloughed because of the legislative impasse.
This isn't the first example of legislative gridlock on an authorization bill - just last year, the Transportation Department had a partial shutdown because the Congress could not agree on a short term extension of operations of the Highway Trust Fund.
This dispute echoes the battle now going on in the Congress over the budget and debt limit, as neither side wants to give and both say the other is guilty of refusing to compromise and address wasteful spending.
On one side is House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, a GOP Congressman from Florida who says he is fed up with foot dragging by Democrats on efforts to save money at the FAA.
Mica used the House version of the FAA bill to try to squeeze savings from the Essential Air Service program, where the feds help smaller airports stay open by subsidizing the ticket cost of each plane passenger.
"I put provisions in there to stop subsidies of over $1,000 a ticket," Mica said.
And it was notable that the provision affected small airports in some states with very powerful Democrats: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) among others.
And obviously, those three Democrats weren't just going to accept those changes.
"Your attempt to punish the Senate by hurting small-community air service has backfired," Rockefeller said in a letter to Mica earlier this week.
"The refusal by the House to extend the FAA's funding authorities is a disservice to the American public and the aviation industry," Rockefeller said in a statement.
"I am disappointed and stunned by their failure," the West Virginia Democrat added.
Other sticking points in the FAA bill included how many flights should be allowed at Washington's main airport, Reagan National; also, there is a dispute over a 2010 ruling that made it easier for airline employees to unionize.
Republicans want to overturn that decision by the National Mediation Board and Democrats basically say that's not going to happen.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned in vain that new construction projects would be put on hold at airports and that airline ticket taxes might not be collected either.
Mica told me in the U.S. Capitol on Friday morning that he wasn't moved by all of the appeals for another short term extension of the FAA bill.
"I'm tired of playing games," Mica said.
"We're paying $3,700 to subsidize one plane ticket in one Senator's district - that's not right."
What airport gets that kind of subsidy? Ely, Nevada. Yes, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
So, the House went home on Friday with no deal. We'll see how easily this is resolved next week, or whether this is just a warm-up for the upcoming showdown on the debt limit.
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14 comments Add your comment
kw87776
July 22nd, 2011
2:01 pm
FYI, the amendment actually affects 13 airports: GA (1), WV (2), NY (1), PA (4), AR (1), TN (1), NV (1), NM (1), MT (1).
Soon to be furloughed employee
July 22nd, 2011
2:11 pm
As an employee for the FAA in DC now facing an uncertain amount of time without pay, thank you for bringing attention to this issue. We all have been blindsided from the management level down as we had no idea this wasn’t even a possibility until receiving a notice from FAA head Randy Babbitt on Wednesday. That note essentially said that within a couple of days about 4000 FAA employees might be furloughed.
With the previous possibility of an extensive government shutdown in the spring, members of Congress and the Senate offered to give back their pay until an agreement was reached but this time they’re taking off early for the wekend. And the topics that are being fought over have nothing to do with any of us that are being furloughed.
Hoping for a quick resolution.
Thank you!
jconservative
July 22nd, 2011
2:39 pm
Doesn’t matter, if the debt ceiling is not raised the FAA will be one of the first agencies shut down.
News Channel » Airline Flights Could Get Cheaper if FAA Shuts Down Saturday Morning – Fox News
July 22nd, 2011
2:58 pm
[...] to Keep FAA OperatingBloombergFAA shutdown would cost govt $ 200 million a weekThe Associated PressAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -Reuters -Wall Street Journalall 275 news [...]
GEICO
July 22nd, 2011
2:59 pm
RE: Is 0bama an Incompetent President?
Did B00 Get Shot?
Solomon
July 22nd, 2011
3:11 pm
If a town or area is too small to support an airport then it should not have an airport.
There are three available airports that are in three different directions, in three different states, all over 50 miles from my town, and using them is not a problem. Does that qualify me for a subsidy on my ticket? No siree Bob.
George
July 22nd, 2011
3:17 pm
Throwing two hundred million dollars of taxpayer money down a dark hole every week in dire economic times is no problem for our Federal Government. That’s normal business for them.
Airline Flights Could Get Cheaper if FAA Shuts Down Saturday Morning – Fox News | News Wrap Up
July 22nd, 2011
3:24 pm
[...] funding stalemate dogged by minor issuesWashington PostThe Associated Press -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -Reutersall 841 news [...]
Cheeto
July 22nd, 2011
5:20 pm
To George, the government is not spending 200 million dollars of taxpayer money every week. The FAA collects 200 million dollars from ticket taxes that passengers pay in order to afford the paychecks of some FAA employees.
To others, many things that the government ’spends’ do not come directly from taxpayers. Essential Air Service funds, for instance, come mostly from fees and charges imposed on other airlines. When an Essential Air Service airline comes into a community, like Great Lakes for instance, they are awarded some money to help subsidize their operations. A million dollars a year sounds like a lot, but it only cost taxpayers 200k, since 80% came from other sources. When a city is trying to grow, ie, grab the interest of a large corporation that can provide hundreds or thousands of jobs to a community, an airport with good connections is often one of the criteria that determines a decision by the company about what city they will move to. Thus, a well-oiled city will do good to fight for an airline and a subsidy. Do a little research.
clearedfortakeoff
July 22nd, 2011
9:54 pm
“…meaning as many as 4,000 FAA workers in 35 states and Washington, D.C. will be furloughed…”
If this means no air traffic controllers then flying is about to get real interesting. Guess the pilots could fly visual but that gets dicey when you’re travelling @ 600 mph in clouds at night. Or just use The Force.
ARFIII
July 23rd, 2011
5:33 am
Mica is right.
If you can not support the service, why do I have to pay to support it.
It isn’t my problem that a congressmen can’t get home on a day off.
I have had to fly into a major airport and drive 4 hours because of cost.
I am heading to Tampa tonight. Driving to ATL. and flying to TAM. Live in Gainesville,GA and am going to end up in Clearwater,FL. Yes it would be nice to go point to point for for ATL to TAM, but it is not going to happen. Airlines need to make money, business need to make money. The government being involved makes that more costly. You want the service than you have to pay for the service.
Mica, is right.
And here is a budget cut
As I have numerous times, it is not a job, it is supose to be a service.
Question, how much does this cost the taxpayer’s?
Here is a cut. One of many that could be done.
Problem is, not in my backyard
mister
July 24th, 2011
7:24 am
Cheeto….you drank the kool-aid….The FAA collects 200 million dollars from ticket taxes that passengers pay…..passengers are tax payers…..if its a company, the cost is passed on….so my big question is if 4000 are laid off and the airlines are still flying, What are the 4000 not doing?
Steve
July 25th, 2011
10:52 am
The laid off engineering services of the FAA, I am pretty sure. It is the group that builds air traffic control towers, radar systems, and keeps everything at the airports from deteriorating over time by updating them. Air traffic controllers are still working because they are emergency required employees. But, a lot of the construction projects around the country at airports were just stopped by this.
Also, Mister taxes on goods and services are not necessarily passed on to passengers. The airlines may have to offer a certain price range in their tickets to keep high sales so it may lower or raise the profit margin on the tickets instead of actual cost of the ticket.
Looks like some of the airlines are just keeping the tax money and not lowering ticket prices. Spirit, Virgin America, Frontier, Hawaiian and Alaska airlines are passing on the tax break to their customers. But, the big airline companies are raising ticket prices to offset the tax break; American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest (and) AirTran.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/07/airline-fees-tax-holiday/178394/1
Moderate Line
July 25th, 2011
5:16 pm
Here is a list of all the projects being stopped by this stop work order. My guess is most of these contractors will probably have claims in excees of whatever Mica thinks he is saving.
I don’t agree with the subsidies but bring it up in a separate bill. In my opinion bills stand alone.
http://www.faa.gov/news/media/workstop/