Transportation secretary and FAA administrator speak out on lack of funding
August 1, 2011, 08:18 am
After Congress announced it had approved the raising of the debt ceiling, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Randy Babbitt joined together with construction workers and contractors at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Those gathered demanded that Congress pass an FAA bill before flying home.
On July 22, Congress allowed the FAA's most recent funding extension to expire. Stop work orders were issued to dozens of construction projects across the country, putting 4,000 FAA employees and numerous contractors and construction workers out of work.
"Members of Congress should not get on a plane to fly home for vacation without passing an FAA bill and putting thousands of people back to work," LaHood said. "Congress needs to do its job for the good of these workers, for the good of our economy and for the good of America's aviation system."
"Every day this goes on, we fall further behind," Babbitt added. "We need our 4,000 FAA employees and tens of thousands of construction workers back on the job so we can get critical projects moving again while it's still construction season."
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