Tag Archives: FAA

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that the federal government is likely to lose more than $1 billion in airline ticket taxes because the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) House of Representatives has left town for a month without resolving a partisan standoff over a bill to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

They passed the debt ceiling bill and ran for the hills leaving more than 100,000 contractors out of work along with more than 4,000 FAA Inspectors – the people who inspect our airports for safety. No big deal.

Since the FAA’s operating authority expired the government’s lost more than $200 million since airlines are unable to collect taxes on ticket sales. The FAA’s last long-term funding bill expired in 2007. Since then, Congress has been unable to agree on a long-term plan. The agency has continued to operate under a series of 20 short-term extensions.

Of course the GOTP doesn’t mind because that’s just evil tax money not being collected, and it’s just government employees who have been laid off

While it’s true the Senate (controlled by the Democratic Party) recessed on Tuesday until September, the House (controlled by the GOTP) fled Monday night, probably attempting to outrun angry Tea Party mobs because Boehner didn’t let the government default. It must be remembered that the House of Representatives is where all bills relating to funding start, and with the GOTP tucking tail and running, the House is now recessed, hence the FAA remains unfunded.

President Obama reportedly implored Congress on Tuesday to settle the dispute before leaving town, calling the stalemate “another Washington-inflicted wound on America.” But of course the GOTP ignored the President and went on a no doubt much needed vacation after the grueling weeks of whining and lying to the American people on what raising the debt ceiling would mean.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Republicans were trying to force the Democratic members to accept policy concessions they would be unable to enact through normal legislative procedures. Democratic Senators and Congressmen tried repeatedly over the past two weeks to pass a bill extending the FAA’s operating authority without the subsidy cuts, but were blocked by Republican senators each time.

“Republicans are playing reckless games with airline safety,” Reid said in a statement. “We should not let ideology interfere with making sure that Americans’ air travel runs as smoothly and safely as possible.”

Just one more example of the current reckless behavior in the GOTP which seems to believe the government shouldn’t be regulating anything in our country, and wants to dismantle all federal power to do so; allowing the rich and powerful so-called “job creators” to do whatever it wishes, believing that businesses or the free market will regulate them. Yeah, OK, they should hold on to that happy thought, that and some faerie dust, and one day they’ll fly.

Democratic Members of Congress claim Tea Party fanatics – which for some reason control far more of the Republican caucus than seems logical – are using the air services cuts as leverage to force them to give in to the GOTP House on a labor provision, which the White House has said President Obama would veto. It appears the provision is one more part of a national effort by Republican Tea Partistas, both in Congress and in state capitals, to undermine organized labor.

Through the provision the GOTP is seeking to overturn the National Mediation Board’s ruling approved last year allowing airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting, as compared to the old rule where workers who didn’t vote were treated as “no” votes.

Democratic leaders and union officials reportedly say the change puts airline and railroad elections under the same democratic rules required for unionizing all other companies. But Republicans complain that the new rule reverses 75 years of precedent to favor labor unions.

“Democrats have to decide if they are going to be the handmaidens of the labor unions in every policy,” Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, told reporters. “Every now and then they should put the American people first instead of their constituency.”

Of course perhaps someone should say the same to Mr. Kyl; that Democratic members will do as he suggests just as soon as Republican Tea Partistas of Congress decide if they’re going to continue to prostitute themselves to the rich and powerful. “Every now and then the GOTP should put the American people first instead of its very limited – the top 2% – constituency.” He’s the quintessential pot calling the kettle black, and one of the biggest hypocrites in Washington. But what should we expect from the man who claimed 90% of what Planned Parenthood did was give abortions. He’s a hypocrite and a liar.