Recessed Congress could still end FAA partial shutdown

Though the US Congress has gone on recess for the rest of the month without resolving the FAA partial shutdown, there is a legislative avenue to bring agency operations back to full strength before September (ATW Daily News, Aug. 3).

To prevent President Barack Obama, a Democrat, from making "recess appointments"—a maneuver often used by US presidents to put executive branch officials in positions for which the Senate is unwilling to confirm them—the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will hold "pro forma" sessions throughout the month even though it is on de facto adjournment. Since the Senate is not allowed to officially adjourn for more than three days unless the House is officially adjourned, the two chambers will technically be in session throughout this month.

That means an FAA funding extension could theoretically be passed by "unanimous consent," which would require neither a formal vote nor the vast majority of lawmakers to actually be present. According the Senate's website, "A senator may request unanimous consent on the floor to set aside a specified rule of procedure so as to expedite proceedings. If no senator objects, the Senate permits the action, but if any one senator objects, the request is rejected."

A nearly empty Senate could pass the already-cleared House FAA extension by unanimous consent, sending the legislation to Obama for signature into law and restoring full FAA services. This would mean the Senate would have to swallow the Essential Air Service cuts contained in the House bill, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) indicated his willingness to do so Tuesday afternoon. Similarly, both the House and Senate could pass an identical, "clean" FAA extension (with no EAS cuts) by unanimous consent to be sent to the president's desk.

Airports Council International-North America VP-Government and Political Affairs Jane Calderwood pointed out that the unanimous consent option can be accomplished provided that "nobody in either body objected." In fact, both the House and Senate have passed previous FAA funding extensions by unanimous consent because the measures were so uncontroversial that no vote was requested.

If that option isn't feasible because of a lawmaker's objection, there is another, more dramatic possibility: Obama could invoke a rarely used authority granted to the president in the US Constitution to call recessed members of Congress back to the capital. The last time this occurred was in 1948 when President Harry Truman resided in the White House.

In brief remarks Wednesday, Obama indicated that he wants Congress to end the FAA shutdown this week. "I'm urging the House and the Senate to take care of this," the president said, adding, "My expectation, and I think the American people's expectation, is this gets resolved by the end of the week."

Political pressure to solve the FAA partial shutdown appears to be rising. The showdown over raising the US government's debt ceiling that consumed Washington this summer kept the FAA funding situation largely off the US media's radar. But with the debt-ceiling lifted Tuesday, there is now increasing US media attention on the thousands of FAA employees and airport construction workers who are being affected by the shutdown, which started July 23. There is also a growing effort by state and city governments, frustrated that airport projects have been halted, to push the federal government to end the shutdown.