This Is Called ‘Small’ Government

[amyrose2712]

What has happened to the Federal Aviation Administration in the last few days should remind everyone of the costs of the Republicans’ obstructionism and their slash-and-burn budget games.
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Taxes on airline tickets expired on Friday when the F.A.A. lost its operating authority, including the authority to collect taxes. Passengers are rightly furious at the nation’s airlines, many of which are pocketing the difference. But the masterminds of this fiasco are the House Republicans who let this happen.

The F.A.A. has also had to furlough some 4,000 workers. Needed airport construction projects — to maintain runways, build new traffic control towers and upgrade other facilities — have been halted across the country. The only good news is that the air traffic control system is still working because traffic controllers are paid from the Aviation Trust Fund, which still has a positive balance.

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Last year, the National Mediation Board changed a rule to make it easier for airline and railroad workers to unionize. Until then, workers who did not vote in union representation elections were counted as “no” votes; after the change, they are counted as abstentions. Pushed by the airline lobby, House Republicans passed a long-term F.A.A. reauthorization in April that would have undone the rule change. The Senate’s reauthorization bill, passed in February, maintained the rule.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/opinion/28thu2.html


Edited to add important part.