Deal ends FAA partial shutdown

A deal between Senate Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Boehner has ended the two-week partial shutdown of the FAA. The partial shutdown had suspended construction projects at airports across the country, including in Michigan.

The deal permitted the Senate to pass the House version of the FAA authorization extension, and then allow USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood to waive the most controversial portions of the bill, including cuts in funding for rural airports through the Essential Air Service program.

The deal allows the House to say they voted for a bill that cut funding and would prevent further unionization of FAA employees while the administration and the Senate puts the final power of those decisions in the hands of Transportation Secretary LaHood.

Of course, much the continued extensions of the overall transportation funding bill, the FAA authorization will also have to meet a final desitnation at some point in the future.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Inititiaves and Federal Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail