LaHood Reams Out Lawmakers Over FAA Shutdown

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made a surprise appearance at the start of Thursday’s White House press briefing to express frustration over a story that has been largely overshadowed due to the ongoing debt limit battle taking place on Capitol Hill.

LaHood admonished Republican lawmakers for refusing to pass a “clean” extension of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, which has seen 4,000 of its employees furloughed since last Friday when previous funding expired.

“There are people in Congress who don’t like the word compromise, who don’t believe in it,” said LaHood, a Republican, himself. “That’s what we need to do.”

LaHood told reporters that 70,000 construction workers have been put out of work due to the failure by Congress to approve new funding.

“We’re right smack dab in the middle of the construction season,” he said. “This is not the time to be laying of 70,000 people,” he said.

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