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Why don’t you just find an FAA employee who is not working because the Republicans in the House are playing politics ( hostage taker ) over the short-term funding of a few job categories such as airplane inspection and so forth only because they are once again back into their union busting mode.
John Boehner and the rest of the congress-critters went on their summer vacation and as a parting gift they left 74,000 workers ( 4,000 FAA, 70,000 airport construction workers ) on a summer vacation. The difference is that the workers vacation is what is normally called unemployment. We get more of the Republicans jobs program in action.
At this point, the Democrats are standing
firm.
The DCCC is now going on the offensive over the issue, blasting out releases in the districts of 50 House Republicans slamming them for going on recess without agreeing to the “clean” temporary reauthorization. “Representative Chip Cravaack called it quits and closed shop in Washington without resolving the FAA shutdown, which has thousands of workers on furlough, safety inspectors working without pay, and millions lost in revenue by the day,” reads the DCCC release sent out in Cravaack’s district.
It will also deny the government over $1 billion in revenue from ticket taxes, $200 million of which has been lost already. This savings is not being passed on to consumers, however, as airlines immediately increased fares by the same amount as the tax. WaPo
Is this just another one of the Republicans ways to cut the deficit and to also give the government a tax break?
The really sad thing is that Mr. Obama, being the ever resourceful Republican enabler, urged the Senate to pass the House version in order to avoid the shutdown. Senate Leader Harry Reid said no.
What the bills say: The provision Mica added to the short-term bill causing the shutdown would cut funding for the Essential Air Service program, which provides funding to rural airports that otherwise cannot sustain themselves. The long-term reauthorization passed by the House phases out funding completely for EAS. Also in that reauthorization was a provision that would reverse a regulator's ruling that airlines can unionize if an election is held and a majority of ballots favor a union — the same procedure as in most workplaces. Previously, those not voting in airline unionization elections were counted as "no" votes, an unusual practice the House bill sought to restore. The House bill would also allow more long-distance flights to Ronald Reagan National Airport, a provision opposed by Maryland and Virginia representatives who want to protect other airports’ business and avoid higher noise levels for their constituents. The Senate bill does not phase out EAS funding or reverse the union ruling, and increases flights to Reagan by a smaller amount.
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