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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate approved legislation Friday ending a
two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration,
clearing the way for thousands of employees to return to work and
hundreds of airport construction projects to resume.
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Employing the so-called “unanimous consent” procedure which took
less than 30 seconds, two senators were present to approve a
House-passed bill extending FAA’s operating authority through
mid-September. Democratic Sen. James Webb of Virginia stood up,
called up the bill and asked that it be passed. Sen. Ben Cardin,
D-Md., the presiding officer, agreed and it was done.
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Other lawmakers had scattered earlier this week for Congress’
August recess. And Friday’s finishing-business vote was as low key
as Congress gets, in marked contrast to the noisy, intemperate and
enervating debt-limit battle of recent weeks.
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Nearly 4,000 furloughed FAA employees can return to work as soon as
Monday if President Barack Obama signs the bill before then. The
shutdown has cost the government about $400 million in uncollected
airline ticket taxes and idled thousands of construction
workers.
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“This impasse was an unnecessary strain on local economies across
the country at a time when we can’t allow politics to get in the
way of our economic recovery,” Obama said in a statement. “So I’m
glad that this stalemate has finally been resolved.”
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A bipartisan compromise reached Thursday cleared the way for Senate
passage of the House bill, which includes a provision eliminating
$16.5 million in air service subsidies to 13 rural communities. But
the bill also includes language that gives Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood the authority to continue subsidized service to the 13
communities if he decides it’s necessary
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Republicans had insisted on the subsidy cuts as their price for
restoring the FAA to full operation.
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Democrats said they expect the administration to effectively waive
or negate the cuts, although that won’t happen right away. That’s
because the cuts don’t kick in until existing contracts with
airlines for the subsidized service expire. The length of those
contracts varies by community.
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The shutdown began when much of Washington was transfixed by the
stalemate over increasing the government’s debt limit. During that
time, the FAA furloughed some workers but kept air traffic
controllers and most safety inspectors on the job. Forty airport
safety inspectors worked without pay, picking up their own travel
expenses. Some 70,000 workers on construction-related jobs on
airport projects from Palm Springs, Calif., to New York City were
idled as the FAA couldn’t pay for the work.
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But airline passengers in the busy travel season hardly noticed any
changes. Airlines continued to work as normal, but they were no
longer authorized to collect federal ticket taxes at a rate of $30
million a day. For a few lucky ticket buyers, prices dropped. But
for most, nothing changed because airlines raised their base prices
to match the tax.
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Treasury Department officials initially said passengers would
likely be eligible for tax refunds if they bought their tickets
before July 23 and their travel took place during the shutdown.
However, IRS spokeswoman Julianne Breitbiel said Friday that
language in the bill approved by the Senate eliminates the need for
refunds. She also said the agency has decided not to retroactively
seek taxes from passengers who bought tickets during the shutdown
or from airlines.
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As the debt ceiling crisis passed and Congress began to leave town
without resolving the standoff, Obama spoke out Wednesday and
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urged Congress to return to
Washington to deal with the issues. Obama expressed dismay that
Congress would allow up to $1.2 billion in tax revenue to go out
the door – the amount that could have been lost by the time
lawmakers would have returned in September.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the deal Thursday
afternoon, saying it would put 74,000 transportation and
construction workers back to work.
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“This agreement does not resolve the important differences that
still remain,” said Reid, D-Nev. “But I believe we should keep
Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this
agreement will do exactly that.”
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Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma won’t attempt to block
passage of the bill when it comes up on Friday, spokesman John Hart
said. Coburn blocked several attempts by Democrats to pass an
extension bill without the subsidy cuts.
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The partisan standoff that led to the shutdown began last month
when Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the chairman of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, signaled his intention
to attach the subsidy cuts to a bill to extend the FAA’s operating
authority through mid-September. The agency has been operating
under a series of 20 short-term extensions since 2007, when the
last long-term FAA funding bill expired.
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Senate Democrats complained that Republicans were breaking with
precedent by using an extension bill to enact policy changes that
hadn’t been agreed upon. Even Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
of Texas called the measure a “procedural hand grenade.” Senators
refused to pass the House bill, saying to do so would be giving
into legislative blackmail and inviting Republicans to up the ante
on the next extension bill.
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Obama, who had scolded Congress on Wednesday for not solving the
standoff, expressed relief.
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“I’m pleased that leaders in Congress are working together to break
the impasse involving the FAA so that tens of thousands of
construction workers and others can go back to work,” Obama said in
a statement.
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Both the House and Senate passed long-term funding bills for the
FAA earlier this year, but negotiations on resolving differences
and finalizing those bills are stalemated. The biggest holdup is a
labor provision in the House long-term bill. Republicans want to
overturn a National Mediation Board rule approved last year that
allows airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple
majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn’t
vote were treated as “no” votes.
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“The House has made it clear that the anti-worker piece is a
priority for them and they also put us on notice that they don’t
intend to give in,” said Vince Morris, a spokesman for Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of a committee that oversees FAA.
“So we are bracing for a new fight in September.”
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Communities targeted for the proposed air service subsidy cuts are
Morgantown, W.Va.; Athens, Ga.; Glendive, Mont.; Alamogordo, N.M.;
Ely, Nev.; Jamestown, N.Y.; Bradford, Pa.; Hagerstown, Md.;
Jonesboro, Ark.; Johnstown, Pa.; Franklin/Oil City, Pa.; Lancaster,
Pa.; and Jackson, Tenn.
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—
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AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller contributed to this
report.
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