Congress finds 'compromise' to end FAA partial shutdown

US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday afternoon that a "bipartisan compromise" between House of Representatives' Republicans and Senate Democrats was brokered to end the partial shutdown of FAA that has halted airport construction projects across the US for nearly two weeks.

Based on limited public statements and details, the Senate (with as few as two members present) will Friday pass by unanimous consent (ATW Daily News, Aug. 4) the FAA funding extension cleared in July by the House, sending a bill to President Barack Obama's desk for signature into law and allowing 4,000 furloughed FAA employees and thousands of contract workers to return to the job. In exchange for the Senate accepting the House bill, which includes cuts to the Essential Air Service program (ATW, Aug. 1), House Republicans have apparently acceded to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood using his power to grant waivers to three to 13 rural airports that would be affected by the subsidy cuts. It's not clear whether the waivers will forestall the cuts, which could end all scheduled service to some airports, or just mitigate their impact temporarily. 

The compromise is hardly a long-term solution, but it ends the spectacle of Congress being on recess while FAA operated at partial strength, the US government lost $30 million daily in uncollected airline ticket taxes, airport construction project sites sat idle and thousands of workers went without pay. Congress will return to Washington in September and immediately have to confront FAA reauthorization again; the temporary extension will only last until Sept. 16.

After years of failing to draw US media attention, the shutdown has cast a spotlight on FAA reauthorization, a long-unresolved issue that has vexed Obama as it did predecessor President George W. Bush (ATW, March 1). The agency has not been formally authorized on a long-term basis since Sept. 30, 2007.

"This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain," Reid said in a statement. "But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that."

LaHood, who spent much of Wednesday and Thursday making television appearances decrying lawmakers for taking "vacation" while thousands were furloughed, said the compromise is "a tremendous victory for American workers everywhere. From construction workers to our FAA employees, they will have the security of knowing they are going to go back to work and get a paycheck, and that's what we've been fighting for."