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.'"

Your morning transportation speed-read:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign a bill to require streets to be designed with non-car uses in mind too.

Immigration officials are increasing their inspections of Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses.

Tea Party leaders in Georgia are opposed to moving a vote on a proposed transportation tax.

New York's John F. Kennedy Airport experienced a record amount of rainfall.

Democrats dubbed a new TSA suspicious behavior detection program as "chat downs," drawing comparisons with the agency's controversial pat-downs.

Citing rising gas prices, the president urges automakers to focus on smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Republican chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said a union protesting his district office over the absence of a long-term funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is "being used as pawns and doped tools" by Democrats. 

Members of the union that represents flight attendants, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), reportedly held a demonstration outside Mica's Florida office to call for Congress to pass a longer bill for the FAA than the measure it approved this month, which provides money for the agency only until September. About 4,000 FAA workers were furloughed for nearly two weeks earlier this month when Congress could not agree on passing the short-term measure, which was originally intended to buy time for a longer law that is being bogged down by labor provisions.
 
"They're being used as pawns and doped tools in a larger national debate," Mica said in an interview with Florida radio station WMFE that is scheduled to air Tuesday morning. "I feel kind of pity for them by the way they've been abused by the leadership in Washington."

With the entry of Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) into the GOP presidential contest over the weekend, the Republican governor's support for banning Transportation Security Administration pat-downs is back in the spotlight, earning the approval of at least one influential lawmaker in Washington.

State legislators in Texas ultimately let a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor for TSA agents to touch a person's genital areas during pat-downs of travelers die this spring. But about two months before he launched his bid for the Republican nomination to challenge President Obama's 2012 bid for reelection, Perry included the bill in a special session of the Texas Legislature after it had failed to pass in the chamber's regular session.

A newspaper in Perry's home state reported that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said during a speech at a transportation summit in Texas that the attempt was a worthwhile effort.

"He's right on target," Mica, who has been harshly critically of the TSA, the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Mica said during his speech. "I did patdown tests and they're a complete failure. The way they do it, on everyone, is unnecessary."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Flooding shut down trains near Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport on Monday morning.

A trash facility is being blamed for birds that congregate near New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Hackers targeted the website of San Francisco's Bay Area Transit Authority.

Los Angeles officials are considering linking Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to rail.

Rep. Darrell Issa on Friday described the National Labor Relations Board as a “rogue agency.” 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) should withdraw subpoenas he issued for documents related to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) legal complaint against airplane manufacturer Boeing, a trio of veteran Democratic lawmakers said Friday.

Over the objection of Democrats on his own House Oversight Committee, Issa subpoenaed the labor oversight panel after saying the NLRB did not provide enough documents for his investigation into the panel's case against Boeing. The NLRB argues that Boeing decided to build a plant in South Carolina to retaliate for labor strikes at its existing facilities in Washington state.

But in a letter to Issa released Friday, Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), George Miller (D-Calif.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said the chairman should let the legal proceeding run its course.

"We are writing to request that you withdraw the unilateral subpoena you served on Sunday to the National Labor Relations Board in light of a recent court ruling that effectively eliminates the purported basis for the committee's investigation," the Democrats wrote, referring to Seattle Administrative Law Judge Clifford Anderson's ruling in June against a motion to dismiss the NLRB case from Boeing.