When the Senate left Washington, D.C. on Tuesday for its August recess, it left in limbo the immediate future of nearly 4,000 FAA employees who have been furloughed since July 23, after lawmakers from both chambers and parties failed to pass an FAA reauthorization bill.
Now, Alaska's junior Democratic senator is urging Congressional leaders to return to the table and pass a reauthorization -- sooner rather than later. The U.S. House and Senate are on summer vacation for the month of August; without action, FAA employees will be furloughed for up to another five weeks, taxes will go uncollected and airports unmaintained until September.
Begich's message, however, echoes the same problems that led to an impasse on the bill in July.
"U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today wrote a letter to Senate and House leadership calling for Congress to return from the August recess to pass a clean FAA extension and end the shutdown," a Wednesday press release from Begich said. A "clean" extension of an FAA bill entails no additional restrictions or reductions on the existing program.
In the letter, Begich urges leaders to call Congress back in order to reopen the FAA. Senate Democrats are blaming House Republicans for adding amendments to the bill that would eliminate government subsidies to 13 rural airports, while Republicans blame Senate Democrats for failing to act on the bill sent back to them from the House before the previous authorization expired.
The airport subsidies cost around $16 million every year, but the government is missing out on around $30 million every day because the taxes usually assessed by the FAA on airline tickets aren't being collected during the shutdown.
The FAA estimates that the total could come to more than $1 billion if the Agency isn't reinstated before Congress returns from vacation.
Begich emphasized aviation's importance in Alaska, and the need for airport improvements to continue serving rural communities in the state, many of which have no access other than by air. Many of the furloughed employees, including some of Alaska's 79 furloughed workers, have been suspended from the FAA's Airports Division, which oversees construction and inspection of the nation's airports. This has led to an abrupt halt to work on airports across the nation.
According to Begich, this includes at least two Alaska projects as well. From the release:
The partial shutdown has stopped work on an $843,000 runway lighting project in Bethel and a $563,000 project to modernize the Anchorage Air Traffic Control tower. The Shutdown threatens to prevent the disbursement of an additional $7 million in airport construction funds to Alaska. A continued shutdown risks additional stop-work orders and delays for aviation projects throughout the state.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski also warned of a shutdown's effect on airport construction when the FAA authorization expired, pointing to the need for an airport rehabilitation project in Deadhorse, where work is already under way and where, she said, work could stop in mid-August without administration of further grant money.
President Obama weighed in again on Wednesday on the shutdown, similarly urging lawmakers to briefly reconvene and pass an extension. "This is a lose-lose situation," he said.
Correction: This article originally stated that Republicans sought to limit collective bargaining rights for FAA employees. While there is another contentious amendment about union rights attached to the bill, it pertains primarily to airline workers, not to FAA employees.
Contact Ben Anderson at ben(at)alaskadispatch.com.