Congress reaches deal to end FAA shutdown

CBS/iStock Images

Updated at 5:18 p.m. ET

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday that Congress has reached a deal to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

"I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work," the Nevada Democrat said in a statement. "This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain. But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that."

The FAA partially shut down on July 23 after Congress failed to pass an extension of the agency's existing budget authorization. Congress has done that simple extension, with no strings attached, 20 times in the past four years.

At issue had been a provision, which Republicans put in a longer-term FAA funding bill, that rolls back some union rights. On top of that, Democrats were angry that Republicans inserted into the short-term funding bill a provision to cut subsidies for air service to 13 rural communities. Democrats on Wednesday accused Republicans of "government by hostage-taking."

Under the agreement, however, the Senate will accept the House-approved, short-term extension that includes the cuts to subsidies for rural communities. The Senate could pass the bill by unanimous consent as early as tomorrow.

President Obama released a statement hailing the breakthrough.

"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," he said. "We can't afford to let politics in Washington hamper our recovery, so this is an important step forward."

A Transportation Department official tells CBS News that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will use the authority he's granted in the bill to waive the subsidy cuts if they present a "hardship" to a community. "Secretary LaHood has the authority to issue waivers and will use that authority where appropriate under the law," the official said.

In other words, the bill will serve as a clean extension of FAA funding until Congress passes the next funding bill.

"This is a tremendous victory for American workers everywhere," LaHood said in a statement. "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. We have the best aviation system in the world and we intend to keep it that way."

The shutdown left 4,000 FAA employees furloughed and brought more than 200 construction projects to a halt. An estimated 70,000 other private-sector workers were also affected. Air traffic controllers and safety inspectors remained on the job, since the agency still had money from another pool of funds to pay them.

Democrats this week called the FAA fight "a made-up crisis," in the words of Sen. Barbara Boxer, with Republicans refusing to budge on the $16 million in subsidies, even as the government lost about $30 million a day in uncollected airline ticket taxes because of the shutdown.

Republicans, meanwhile, blamed Senate Democrats for breaking their promise to pass the House short-term extension. "That's indefensible, and they should end this crisis immediately," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

Democrats said that if they relented and passed the House bill -- as they now have agreed to do -- Republicans would push the envelope further and demand the union roll-backs later.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, released a statement today saying that in the future, policy riders should be left out of short-term funding bills.

"Additionally, Democrats will not allow a handful of Republicans to hijack the debate over a long-term FAA extension to serve an anti-worker agenda," he said. "We must work quickly to craft a long-term bipartisan reauthorization and I encourage Speaker Boehner and House Republicans to join Democrats in a conference committee to sit down and forge a lasting compromise."

LaHood, the only Republican in President Obama's cabinet and a former House Republican, called on Congress on Wednesday to "take a little detour from their own vacation" to pass some kind of extension.

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, one of the congressmen involved in the FAA negotiations, held a press conference Thursday to condemn LaHood and Senate Democrats for calling House Republicans "hostage takers." He placed the blame for the stand off squarely on two senators -- Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.

LaTourette said that Coburn was staunchly committed to keeping the subsidy cuts in the Senate version of the bill, while Rockefeller was staunchly opposed to them. According to LaTourette, both Senate Democratic Leader Reid and House Speaker John Boehner made a good effort to get a clean, short-term extension passed.

"It is time to declare B.S. on the messaging that is occurring," LaTourette said.

Rockefeller, head of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, released a statement Thursday after Reid's announcement, saying Congress could not afford to let the shutdown continue.

"House Republicans made it clear they would continue to hold the entire aviation system hostage," he said. "I deplore those tactics, but ultimately the stakes for real people are too high."

Boehner's spokesman Steel said today, "We are pleased the Senate has agreed to pass the House-approved FAA extension tomorrow."

[tsigili]

Amusing.......someone heard that the union issue was to bust? Just goes to show, no one is LISTENING! They wanted to give the unions more power to bargain, this time.

[blindersoff]

Republicans were elected with the promise to focus on JOBS! Yet to union bust they were willing to let 74,000 works sit IDLE while congress still collect their paychecks. I wrote and called my senators and congressman asking them to submit a JOBS BILL. Republicans WANT this economy to stay sick so they can beat President Obama in 2012. That is NOT patriotic!

[tsigili]

If they hadn't been such jerks, they could have done that, before they took "recess". After all, working 6 mos. out of 12, is REALLY a soft job, now isn't it?

[midwestmind]

Well great, it looks like once again compromise is spelled Dems cave to what the Reps want. That's a very different defintion of compromise than I am failiar with.

[luadda22]

ZFB, you posted "My concepts must be too complex for you".


ZFB, if you think these are real concepts, you're right! I don't understand them. It looks more like rambling (lengthy and confused or inconsequential). I thought you would like Coolidge? Under Coolidge, only the top 2% paid Federal Income Taxes, he supported Civil Rights, appointed African Americans to federal office, granted full citizenship to all American Indians, cut subsidies, tried to outlaw war, he reduced the national debt by over 60% and was hated by the southern racists (which at that time were Democrats). What more would you want?

[luadda22]

Sorry, I meant "reduced the federal debt by almost 40%".

[ZFB18]

If you could understand my reply to you, than you are capable of understanding my original message which was after all in clear English. Unfortunately, you are a false person, hence your nasty comments.
As to the stuff on Coolidge, his non-business regulation led to the stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression. This is parallel to the conservative economic policies of the last 30 years since Ronald Reagan. Now we have a chance to fix things, but people like you want to propagandize against, and bully those those who are advocating repairing the most recent conservative-libertarian damage.
Coolidge had few successes on Civil Rights, and racist anti-immigration laws due in part to Klan pressure were passed when he was in the White House. The Republican Party he was a part of was formed to oppose slavery, and many members were the first supporters of Civil Rights. Therefore, Coolidge may have been sympathetic to the cause. Still, not much was accomplished by him. FDR was the first to make major changes in the direction for Civil Rights, though the Southern Democrats did not like that. However, the GOP of today is has a big tent open for traditional anti-Black racists many of them ex-Southern Democrats who are conservatives, and not for rational conservatives, as well as moderates, and liberals.

[rightbehind]

The republicans are shutting down airports that mainly serve the middle class who might own a small aircraft and taking care of the airports that serve the wealthy and corporations.

[RealWorldNow]

Actually they targeted airports that were getting subsidies that were approaching $1000.00 per passenger. Doesn't that make sense or should we keep going down a road no matter how bad the tail wags the dog?

[GA_Taxpayer]

If good Old Harry had bothered to read the bill passed by the House two weeks ago, he would not have waisted $300+ million dollars of our money.

[RobAla]

What the Democrats don't seem to understand is that this is only the beginning of cuts to the federal government. It has been spending $1.5 trillion more than we have each year, and we have reached a staggering $14.4 trillion national debt. How long do they think this can go on? It has to stop, and this will mean serious cuts. We simply don't have the money, and the over spending is pushing the nation toward an economic collapse. It's not that complicated.

[Jhihmoac]

I'm STILL not flying anytime too soon...

[ZFB18]

Just wanted to interject... it's time to begin a program of massive government spending not just on airports, but roads, schools, bridges, communication, and energy infrastructure, as well as reimpose progressive income taxes, and 30% tariffs on foreign goods. There are obvious refinement to this such as making free trade agreements with countries with wage standards similar to our own instead of China's fixed wage market system. This will get things going again, and in the right direction for the majority of Americans, and others in the higher wage world. Anyone who knows real history knows the time of the greatest prosperity in modern America was during the time we did all of these things from the post World War II Era until the 1980's. Even during the 1980's President Reagan's administration spent huge amounts of money to boom the economy. However, he bloated the debt, and increased inequality by getting rid of the progressive income tax, increasing taxes through Social Security taxes, and deregulating monopoly formation, and lowering tariffs. It's time to start with what has historically worked, and scrap the failed 1920's, and modern version of Coolidge-Randist-Conservative-Liberatarian Economics.

[luadda22]

Huh????

[ZFB18]

luadda22... My concepts must be too complex for you.