FAA funding stalemate dogged by minor issues

Now, we are going to have disgruntled people directing our planes in and out of airports? This cannot continue like this. I have never seen so much disfunction in my life. This Congress can't even agree on what they disagree on. Amazing!!!

With the 20th stopgap funding extension for the nation’s aviation system about to expire, the congressional stalemate over a multibillion-dollar, long-term funding bill has turned into a strikingly nasty squabble.

If it isn’t resolved this week, the Federal Aviation Administration may face a partial shutdown on Friday. Air traffic controllers would remain on the job, but the FAA would not be able to collect ticket tax revenue that support the system and nonessential employees might face furloughs.

“Summer is the busiest travel time of the year,” said former FAA administrator Marion C. Blakey, now president of the Aerospace Industries Association. “No one wants to see the FAA turned upside down, especially now.”

This week, House Democrats bypassed Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-Fla.) with a direct appeal to Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), urging him to schedule a conference committee meeting to resolve differences in long-term bills passed by the two bodies.

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