Aviation

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that his words were taken out of context last week in an interview he conducted about the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

About 4,000 FAA workers were furloughed for nearly two weeks while Mica and Senate Democrats were at an impasse over a funding bill for the beleaguered agency.

The Washington Post reported that Mica was "a beaten man" after the shutdown became the main story in Washington last week, but in an op-ed in one of the newspapers in his Florida district, Mica said the paper put a "liberal slant" on his interview.

"The writer mischaracterized my measured comments and decision to avoid personal vitriolic attacks, such as those Senate Democrats recently launched against me and other House Republicans, and came to a twisted conclusion that I was a 'beaten man,' " Mica wrote Tuesday in The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

"In response to being asked if I was surprised by the magnitude of the reaction to the FAA extension that I had sent to the U.S. Senate, my answer was 'yes,' " he continued. "Who would have ventured to guess that Senate Democrats would have partially closed down the FAA for two weeks and, as the Post column correctly reports, demagogue the issue?" 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Airlines are reducing fare hikes as taxes that go to the Federal Aviation Administration are being reinstated.

The Broadway play "Catch Me If You Can" is coming to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has established a panel to pick the next chief of New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority.

A transgender Transportation Security Administration worker who sued the agency for being forced to work as a man has won a settlement.

More than $50 million has been spent thus far in 2011 lobbying the funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration, a new report suggests.

The Senate on Friday ended a nearly two-week furlough for 4,000 FAA workers by passing an appropriations bill for the agency. But the measure only funds the FAA until Sept. 16.

Negotiations on a larger bill, which would fund the agency for multiple years, are ongoing. And that's where the lobbying money in Washington is going, according to the First Street Research Group.

The Federal Aviation Administration partial shutdown ended this week, but the fight over the agency's funding is far from over.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) is working to make sure Federal Aviation Administration workers who were furloughed during the partial shutdown of the agency are paid for the time they missed, his office confirmed to The Hill Friday afternoon.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Mica would file a bill to reimburse the workers.

In an interview with the paper, Mica said he regretted that the impasse between himself and Senate Democratic leaders that partially shut down the FAA resulted in 4,000 of the agency's workers being furloughed for nearly two weeks.

“I didn’t know it would cause this much consternation,” Mica said in the interview. “Now I’ve just got to get the broom and the shovel and clean up the mess.”

The Federal Aviation Administration should pay employees for the nearly two weeks they were furloughed during the partial shutdown of the agency that ended Friday, the FAA Managers Association said.

The organization, which set up a relief fund for furloughed workers, praised Congress for agreeing to pass an appropriations bill to end the impasse that had shut down the FAA.

But FAAMA President David Conley said the agency should do more for the workers who were displaced.

"This is extremely good news for our FAA employees and their families," he said in a statement Friday. "It is our association's hope that Congress and the administration can come to an agreement on a long-term FAA reauthorization bill before this short-term extension expires.

The IRS will not try to retroactively collect taxes on airline tickets purchased during a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spending impasse, an agency spokesman said Friday.

Frank Keith, the spokesman, said that passengers who flew during stalemate but bought tickets beforehand would not be entitled to a refund. And, in a statement released later in the day, the agency said that airlines would need to start collecting fare taxes by 12:01 a.m., essentially giving companies the weekend to regroup.

Democrats accused House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) of putting cuts to rural airport subsidies in the short funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration in retaliation for Democrats objecting to labor provisions in a larger bill for the agency, but Mica said Friday that all options would be on the table in future negotiations.

The bill that was passed Friday morning to end the partial shutdown of the FAA, which resulted in 4,000 workers being furloughed for nearly two weeks, only funds the agency through Sept. 16.

“The American people have witnessed firsthand how truly difficult it is to bring about even modest reforms and cut wasteful programs in Washington, like $3,720 individual airline ticket subsidies," Mica said of the temporary fix in a statement. “After an absolutely unnecessary two-week delay, and after having imposed hardship on FAA employees, airport construction workers and the American economy, the partial shutdown of our aviation industry will end."

The passage of the measure was unusual in that it took place in a nearly empty Senate chamber.

The deal to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by having Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood eliminate controversial subsidies for rural flight service in a funding bill for the agency is unconstitutional, a right-leaning group in Washington said this week.

Americans for Prosperity Vice President Phil Kerpen said that the deal, which will end almost two weeks of furloughs for 4,000 FAA workers if it is approved as expected Friday morning, is "in plain violation of what the law says and the basic constitutional principle of separation of powers.

"Senate Democrats shut down the FAA to block a House-passed long-term extension over special-interest union provisions," Kerpen said in a statement. "They blocked a short-term extension to protect egregious pork-barrel spending for 13 rural airports with almost no passengers under the Essential Air Service.

"Now a 'deal' has been announced under which the Senate will pass the House's short-term extension, but the president will somehow keep the pork dollars flowing," he continued. "President Obama cannot unilaterally fund pork. This is unacceptable, and we urge Obama to instead follow the law and allow this wasteful pork spending to end."