2K Federal Transport Workers Face Furlough

A Rohingya Muslim family who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape religious violence sits at a shelter provided by local people in Taknaf, Bangladesh, Tuesday, June 12, 2012. Bangladesh on Tuesday turned away three boats carrying 1,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, bringing to 1,500 the number of refugees blocked in recent days, officials said. (AP Photo/Anurup Titu) / Anurup Titu

Two thousand federal transportation workers will be furloughed without pay on Monday, and the Obama administration said they have a Kentucky senator to blame for it.

Federal reimbursements to states for highway programs will also be halted, the Transportation Department said in a statement late Sunday. The reimbursements amount to about $190 million a day, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

The extension of transportation programs was part of a larger package of government programs that also expired Sunday, including unemployment benefits for about 400,000 Americans.

Bunning objected to the $10 billion measure, saying it would add to the budget deficit. He didn't immediately respond to a request Sunday for comment.

The impasse has provided the administration with an opening to excoriate Republicans for allowing popular programs to run out, even if only for a short time.

"As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate's second-ranking Republican leader, told "Fox News Sunday" that he expects GOP lawmakers will vote to extend unemployment benefits this week.

Furloughs will affect employees at the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration.

LaHood said construction workers will be sent home from job sites because federal inspectors must be furloughed.

Among the construction sites where work will be halted: the $36 million replacement of the Humpback Bridge on the George Washington Parkway in Virginia; $15 million in bridge construction and stream rehabilitation in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and the $8 million resurfacing of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

[likeitbe]

AndyMaxo - Do you realize that Congress is not supposed to undertake spending without specifyiing how it will be paid for. When they do that they increase the deficit. Sen Bunning said that he feels they should approve this spending. He's just asking Reid and Company how the intend to pay for it before they approve it. When you don't arrange to pay for your spending, that's "deficits" mushroom into trillion dollar "Obama-cits"

I think a $10 Billion cut in spending in Harry Reid's State of Nevada would be a good wya.

[likeitbe]

Wastin away again in Obamaville,
Knowing that this guy ain't worth his salt.
Obama claim that someone else is to blame,
But he knows...it's his own darned fault.....

[likeitbe]

The funny part is, Dems want to paint Bush as a Republican. Of course, he behaved much more like a Democrat. The coming dynamic isn't about Dems or Republicans, it's about thinking independents, like me to whom the whole "party loyalty" schtick is offensive.

Americans need to demand politicians who think for themselves and who place their constituency before the silly games of Congressional power.

[likeitbe]

by actornaught Should a dem prez do the hard work & ask for sacrifice to start fixing the sick economy
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Sacrifice? lol All Obamie does is spend, spend spend. That's not sacrifice. The comparison to Jiminy Carter is apt, both he and Obama are clueless neophytes with Pinocchio noses.

[likeitbe]

The annual returns to the Dow Industrials versus whether the Dems controlled one or more houses of Congress over the last 30 years is revealing.

DJIA Avg return when Dems control one or more house of Congress = 2.7%
DJIA Avg return when Reps control both house of Congress = 13.1%

Cool, huh?

[likeitbe]

by actornaught By the way, Tax Revenue began plummeting in early 2005.
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That's a good thing. We should keep our money not funnel to the government. Federal deficits also declined from 2005 until the Dems seized power. Thereafter they exploded!

[likeitbe]

It's hard to think of any way in which we are better off today than when Dems seized control of our govt in Jan 2007. It was very shortly after the Democrat coup that things turned for the worse.

[likeitbe]

Remember Pelosi in Jan 2007 with her S-eaten grin declaring that there was a "new sheriff in town"....lmao. We haven't fared very well under that "new sheriff....

[likeitbe]

I hate to break this too you, but Congress authorizes spending. when the Dems seized control of Congress in Jan 2007, the Federal Deficit was at 8.2 Trillion, it now stands at 12.5 Trillion. Democrats, including Obama, all the way. Dems have ballooned the deficit by 4 Trillion bucks in just 3 short years!!!

[likeitbe]

Adjusted for inflation during Reagan's tenure, the debt went from $1,787B to $3,757B.
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Obama's done that in just 1-1/2 yrs!!! Reagan took 8, fool!!!!