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LaHood: FAA workers worried about repeat of shutdown
Federal Aviation Administration workers are worked about being furloughed again when Congress comes back from its summer recess, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, about 4,000 FAA workers were furloughed for nearly two weeks when Congress could not agree on passing the short-term measure, which was originally intended to buy time for a long-term authorization that is being bogged down by labor provisions.
The measure approved by Congress this month to end the impasse only funds the FAA through the middle of September, and LaHood said Tuesday any relief the agency employees are feeling about being back-to-work is being trumped by fears they'll be kicked off the job again soon.
"These are hardworking, dedicated professionals on the front lines of developing many of the NextGen technologies that will completely revolutionize our air transportation system and get passengers to their destinations more quickly and with a smaller carbon footprint," LaHood wrote on his "FastLane" blog on the Department of Transportation's website after holding a town-hall meeting at a FAA facility in Atlantic City, N.J.
"And yet, the most common question I was asked during our town hall was,
'Is this going to happen again.'"
LaHood said FAA workers also expressed concerns about pay they missed during the 13-day partial shutdown of the agency. Members of Congress have introduced a bill to provide back pay to the employees were furloughed, but with lawmakers not scheduled to return to Washington until September, it would be several weeks before they could be repaid.
"We're working with Congress to ensure that our employees receive back pay for the time that they were furloughed," LaHood wrote Tuesday. "Congress owes it to our workers, and I am urging them to make sure this gets done as soon as possible."
In the meantime, a relief fund has been established by the FAA Managers Association so other federal workers can make donations to help provide assistance to the workers were furloughed.
Although the agency was never fully closed, the partial shutdown of the FAA was projected to have cost the federal government $30 million per day as taxes on airplane ticket sales that are normally paid were not authorized to be collected until Congress passed a funding bill for the FAA.
In addition to the furloughed FAA employees, about 70,000 construction employees were also estimated to have been put out of work when airport construction projects were stalled during the impasse.
