Norton Leads Press Conference to Break FAA Stalemate and Get Federal Workers Back on the Job

July 27, 2011

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) led a press conference today about "a congressional strike against the 90,000 FAA and construction workers furloughed when the House insisted on adding a controversial $16 million cut to a two-month FAA reauthorization bill, which has sidelined $6.2 billion in work at the nation's airports," she said. Norton took the initiative in calling the press conference, which was also attended by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV), House Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Costello (D-IL), former Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Moran (D-VA), and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR). Although the national capital region is disproportionately affected by the impasse, Norton said Democrats were speaking up for 90,000 furloughed FAA employees and construction workers in 35 states and the District of Columbia in the absence of any movement toward a compromise to get the workers back to work.

Norton said, "There is no excuse for leaving them stranded when Congress is at work every day. We want to assure the American people and especially the workers that Democrats at least are not resting on this needless stalemate. We will not let the House Republican majority slip quickly into another jobless weekend for FAA employees and construction workers, as Members of Congress collect their own paychecks while failing to perform a vital function in their congressional job description."

Attached is Norton's full statement and a list of job losses by state.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton FAA Press Conference Statement

We are now in the fifth day of what might be called a congressional strike against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airport construction workers. We especially appreciate that Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall and Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Costello have led Democrats in introducing a clean FAA extension bill, as Democrats and Republicans have done unfailingly until now, and have led in writing Speaker John Boehner urging the appointment of House conferees, matching the Senate conferees appointed months ago, to resolve the differences between the House and Senate FAA Reauthorization bills. As the minority party in the House, we cannot get our clean bill to the floor, but we can let the 4,000 FAA employees, a quarter of whom are from the National Capital Region, and the nearly 90,000 airport construction workers nationwide, also disproportionately from this region, understand that at least some of us are still working to get them back to work. And we can let airline passengers know that we are as outraged as they are that some airlines have raised fares in order to pocket money that would have been collected as taxes from passengers for airport infrastructure and FAA employees and programs left unauthorized by the failure to pass an extension bill.

The furlough of these workers is a unique and callous departure from the Democratic and Republican tradition that always holds the American people harmless when we fail to reach agreement on bills. The opposite is the case here. Our constituents are harmed and Congress is untouched, unmoved, and, as of now, unmoving. House Republicans attached a controversial provision to a two-month FAA authorization bill, adding insult to the injury of continuing to refuse to appoint House conferees. A provision to cut $16 million has now shut down $6.2 billion in ongoing work at the nation's airports. Inflicting these furloughs was the last act of the House before adjourning early at 3:00 p.m. last Friday to head home for a pleasant weekend. Republicans have not since shown the over 90,000 federal employees and construction workers the respect of at least trying to negotiate the two-month extension, much less the final FAA bill, to get these workers back on the job.

In the midst of a fragile recovery already shaken by Republican debt limit rigidity, Republicans have left over $6 billion of work on the runways of America. Unless these workers get back to work soon, this single case of intentionally induced furloughs will drive up the July unemployment rate. The furloughed aviation engineers, safety analysts, and construction workers in 35 states and the District have now been joined by airline passengers, with airlines in every state in a domino effect as some airlines have capitalizing on this congressionally created crisis to raise airfares. If airlines believe that we will not recoup the $30 million in daily uncollected taxes, they are too clever by half. The nation cannot afford a giveaway of infrastructure funds to the airlines.

Furloughs and layoffs usually occur when there is too little work and therefore insufficient funds to pay workers. Neither is the case here. Much of the FAA is self-funded through user fees and these workers have been furloughed from vital work in progress. The National Capital Region is disproportionately affected because the FAA is headquartered here, because of research and development on the new satellite-based traffic control system here, and because Dulles Airport construction project is one of the top airport construction projects underway. However, we speak up today for almost 90,000 FAA employees and construction workers nationwide. There is no excuse for leaving them stranded when Congress is at work every day. We want to assure the American people and especially workers that Democrats at least are not resting on this needless stalemate. We will not let the Republican House slip quickly into another jobless weekend for FAA employees and construction workers, as Members of Congress collect their own paychecks while failing to perform a vital function in their congressional job description.

Republican Refusal to Conference or to Pass a Clean FAA Extension Bill Results in More Than 90,000 Airport Construction and FAA Employees Furloughed