Since most news reporters have been stuck on the set of Ground Hog Day, not much attention has been given to the failure of the House and Senate to reauthorize the FAA. The Senate passed a bill, which the House refused to pass. The argument is over subsidies to rural airports and union worker’s rights.

Now this one should be interesting to Representative Tipton. No doubt he hates the rights of unions to organize and represent workers. No doubt he loves being able to fly into Durango, and Grand Junction, and other Western Slope communities in his district. Maybe he can vote for the proposal on Friday and against it on Monday, just like he did on the debt ceiling bill.

He’ll have a lot of time to think about how to proceed during the August recess announced yesterday by Cantor. Legislators are coming home for August. In the meanwhile, airlines are not collecting the taxes that support the FAA, and the nation will lose about $1.2 billion by the time Congress decides to go back to work. Who knows how much will be lost by the time Congress decides to actually work on this bill? I wonder if those losses will count toward the additional savings anticipated by November by the bill scheduled to be voted on in the Senate today.

Nah. I’m being too cynical. The extreme right wing of the right wing wouldn’t deliberately refuse to collect taxes on airline tickets, mostly used by businessmen and the wealthy. Would they?

FAA Shutdown

4,000 Employees Laid Off

Airport Construction Projects on Hold