Posted on 07/27/2011 1:49:41 PM PDT by Beaten Valve
Partial shutdown stalls aviation construction projects across the country Work stoppages are spreading among aviation construction projects across the country and construction workers are being sent home, due to a continuing fight in Washington over funding the Federal Aviation Administration.
The stoppages come after nearly 4,000 FAA employees were furloughed on Saturday because the U.S. House failed to reauthorize the FAA the day before. The halting of work will increase the cost of the projects and could delay their completion, but it won’t affect air service, the FAA said.
“People are out of work and the FAA cannot conduct necessary work to keep our aviation system competitive and moving forward,” FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said.
Projects include a $250 million initiative to design and install runway lights at airports across the country, and $20 million in contracts to strengthen air traffic towers in earthquake prone areas, the FAA said.
On his blog, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pointed to how the stalled installation of a cab section to Cherry Capital Airport’s new control tower puts 50 construction workers out of a job. Kevin Klein, the manager of the airport in Traverse City, Mich., said about 200 people, ranging from engineers to vendors, will be hurt by the project delay, according to LaHood.
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV on Monday called on top U.S. House Republicans to convene a conference committee by Wednesday on a bill to reauthorize the FAA. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., responded that the Senate first needed to agree on the provision to cut rural air subsidies.
House Republican say $12.5 million will be saved annually by limiting eligibility to the Essential Air Service program to airports greater than 90 miles from a medium-sized or major hub airport. Democrats denounce the measure as a political ploy to gain leverage on FAA reauthorization
We need to see more of this.
Ray LaHood, RINO turncoat.
The payage stopped last Saturday, in many cases I suspect the “work” stopped long before.
Sounds to me like we’ve got 4,000 FAA employees more than we really need.
And yet despite Democrat’s warnings, not a single plane has fallen out of the sky...
You haven't been around the Oshkosh EAA AirVenture this week, have you?
Good!
Every one of those can be better done by private enterprise in competitive bids. Even better if we get the damned Bacon-Davis Act repealed.
Screw the FAA.
FAA Shutdown Because Dems Want to Protect Pork
Posted By Capitol Confidential On August 3, 2011 @ 8:29 am
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has basically been shut down [1] thanks to the Senate Democrats addition to pork. 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed until further notice. 70,000 construction workers must now sit on their hands as all airport construction has halted. And the federal government is loosing $200million a week in airline ticket taxes because they are not authorized to legally collect the tax.
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