In Support of H.R. 2544, The Aviation Jobs and Safety Act of 2011

Floor Speech

* Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 4,000 workers of the Federal Aviation Administration who were furloughed on July 22nd. For this reason, I urge the immediate passage of H.R. 2644, the Aviation Jobs and Safety Act of 2011, which will provide a clean extension and end this nonsense.

* Republicans claim to focus on jobs, but time and time again, we see them cut, delay, and disable every program that comes their way. The partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration has become the primary tactic of the Republican Party, which would rather send people home than send them to work.

* The failure to pass a clean FAA extension is the latest example of this tactic. Since 2007, Congress has passed 20 short term extensions without controversial provisions. Breaking that precedent, House Republican leadership decided to attach policy riders to weaken unions and kill jobs, knowing full well it would never be approved by the Senate.

* Mr. Speaker, the 4,000 furloughed FAA employees are non-partisan career civil servants who in many cases have spent more than two decades working to provide the public with safe, modern and efficient air travel in this country.

* The Republican-led FAA shutdown has caused the FAA to issue 217 stop-work orders on $11 billion worth of air traffic control and safety-related contracts, and that number will continue to grow.

* Because of this, nearly 86,000 construction jobs are now in jeopardy around the country. That's 90,000 people waiting to work, needing to pay their mortgages and feed their families.

* Contracts are waiting to be honored and work is waiting to be done, but the Republicans are held up on issues such as subsidies to rural airports, which cost about $200 million a year.

* Mr. Speaker, in just 10 days, the FAA shutdown has already cost the American taxpayer $300 million. Every day the Republican leadership holds out costs this country $30 million in lost airport fees.

* Also troubling is how the airlines have reacted to the FAA shutdown. Instead of passing cost savings on to air travelers, almost every one of the airlines raised their ticket prices and pocketed the money. The situation was there and they took advantage of it.

* My Republican colleagues are fond of saying that cutting taxes and dismantling government bureaucracies will streamline business and result in greater value to the consumer, but I fail to see the airlines acting on that principle.

* On July 26th I joined my Democratic colleagues in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in introducing H.R. 2644, which will end this job-killing standoff immediately. I call on my Republican colleagues to pass a clean extension so we can return to the business of negotiating a long-term authorization bill.

* Mr. Speaker, it is incredibly unfair to hold thousands of American jobs hostage while we battle over promises we have already made and signed into law. This is exactly the same tactic that we saw Republicans employ with their threatened shutdown of the federal government in March and their senseless debate over the debt-ceiling which threatened the entire economy.

* I remain committed to passing an authorization bill that adequately funds critical components of our transportation infrastructure, such as the implementation of the Next Generation Air Traffic Control system, and I am concerned that reckless cuts necessitate the firing of many safety personnel and put the flying public at risk. Right now the workers who should be moving these projects forward are sitting at home worried about the money they are not able to earn.

* Mr. Speaker, we must pass H.R. 2644 immediately. Every day we wait costs our country money. This pointless shutdown erodes confidence of the hundreds of small businesses who contract for the federal government, and puts nearly 90,000 jobs in needless jeopardy.

* I urge my colleagues to for a clean funding extension of the FAA before we leave Washington for the district work period. Thousands of jobs and livelihoods hang in the balance.

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