OPINION: FAA Feud

Both the House and Senate have gone on summer break without fixing a feud over the FAA. The old ticket tax law expired, causing over over 4,000 FAA workers to be furloughed because their funding dried up; and that also causes layoffs for many others who work on airport construction projects.

The fuss is over two disputes. The first is the federal subsidies paid to provide passenger air service to over 150 communities—often costing taxpayers hundreds of dollars for each passenger. The House wants to cut back the subsidies; the Senate doesn’t.

The second issue is that the Senate also wants to preserve a new bureaucratic ruling making it easier to unionize airline workers—something the House opposes.

Lawmakers have gone home for a month without fixing the mess. Congress loves to pass the buck and blame others, but this time they can’t.

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

Listen