WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Wednesday called for the passage of a short-term extension of Federal Aviation Administration funding to get 90,000 construction workers back on the job.
Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urged their Republication counterparts to pass the short-term extension introduced Tuesday that would allow the agency to operate at existing levels through the end of September.
Ralph Randall, Federal Aviation Administration program management analyst, is one of 4,000 workers currently furloughed following the agency's partial shutdown Friday. (Photo by Molly Born/MNS)
The partial shutdown on Friday effectively put 4,000 FAA employees temporarily out of work and prompted stop-orders on construction projects across the country. The furloughs do not extend to the agency’s critical personnel, such as air traffic controllers.
House Democrats said $6.2 billion in ongoing construction work is currently halted.
The House and Senate were at an impasse over FAA reauthorization by the midnight deadline Friday and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, said he expects no action on the extension until after the Aug. 2 deadline to extend the debt limit.
“I have no facts in that regard other than it seems to be with everything on the table, as it is today, that this appears to be taking a backseat among the leadership in the House,” Rahall said.
Democratic leaders Wednesday called for Republicans to vote to allow the agency to continue operating and then begin long-term talks to negotiate major differences.
The committee’s chairman Rep. John Mica, a Republican from Florida, has said Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, accusing them of failing to address this issue in 2007 when the last FAA authorization expired.
Effective Saturday, the FAA hasn’t collected taxes from airlines, but the bulk of those companies have not lowered tickets prices as customers had hoped, blaming high fuel costs for cutting into profits. See related story about airlines not passing along tax breaks.
“If they think we’re going to let them pocket $30 million daily, which we desperately need for airport infrastructure,” said the Washington Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, “they are too clever by half.”
At the center of the debate is the House bill the Senate rejected, which included cuts to three rural airports that get a per-ticket subsidy of more than $1,500. Aviation subcommittee ranking member Jerry Costello of Illinois accused House Republicans of “playing games” by sending that bill to the Senate that they knew was “dead on arrival.”
“It’s very clear, it’s very simple — stop holding these workers hostage,” Costello said.
Ralph Randall, FAA program management analyst currently on furlough and representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, encouraged Congress to act fast to pass an extension. Following the press conference, the veteran employee said the issue at hand isn’t rocket science. “We’ve got rocket scientists in the FAA,” Randall said. “This isn’t it.