File this one in the “credit where credit is due” folder. Having finished their exhausting work on the debt ceiling question, the House of Representatives prepared to head out of town for more than a month. But before shutting off the lights and making good their escape, somebody had the foresight to remember one very important item.
After the House of Representatives passed the bill to extend the debt limit, it adjourned for the summer, but not before Republicans took advantage of a procedural move that will help block President Obama from making recess appointments during the upcoming break.
While the House will be adjourned, it will continue to hold so-called “pro forma” sessions throughout August. Though it’s the Senate that must confirm presidential appointments, under the U.S. Constitution, it cannot adjourn for more than three days without the approval of the House. Therefore, the House has maintained the ability to prevent the Senate from going into full recess, effectively blocking Obama from making recess appointments.
Fortunately, this is one area where even the Democrats will be too embarrassed to argue very much. That, of course, is because Harry Reid did the same thing to George W. Bush after taking the majority in the Senate in 2007.
They’re also headed off for summer vacation without bothering to authorize funds for the FAA.
That’s costing the government $200 million per week in unrecoverable revenue losses, which a number of airline companies continue to unscrupulously pocket for themselves.
They’re leaving 4,000 FAA employees out of work, along with thousands of private sector employees who were doing contracted airport construction and safety upgrades. That’s where the $200 million per week in revenue was going. Instead of doing something useful, these people will be drawing unemployment benefits.
This is all very good for the U.S. economy and for air travelers, no doubt.
Funny…. I hadn’t even noticed that they weren’t at work…. guess maybe we don’t need so many on the job after all.
Maybe we need to shut each agency down for a month, if no one notices then it stays shut? Start with the EPA, BATF, Education, ….
There are presently 40 FAA airport safety inspectors whose work is deemed essential to the continuing safety of air passengers that the FAA now lacks funds and authority to pay. The republican majority House bugged out without giving the matter of FAA funding a second thought. The safety inspectors have voluntarily continued to work without pay. The FAA intends to reimburse them sometime after the end of the Congressional recess.
In addition to 4,000 FAA employees furloughed, there are 70,000 private sector construction workers now laid off as a result of the House’s failure to provide FAA funding. The FAA has been forced to issue 200 stop work orders.
The post-recess House vote on FAA funding is currently scheduled for September 7. Their irresponsibility and general incompetence in the matter of governing will have resulted in direct revenue losses of approximately $1 billion dollars by then. To that you can add the unnecessary costs resulting from ceasing and then resuming essential airport construction projects, and the unnecessary costs to U.S. taxpayers that result from putting some 74,000 workers on unemployment.
Too bad that Greg doesn’t know what he is talking about, or if he does, he chooses to play politics with this.
On July 20th, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan (that means BOTH sides, Greg) bill that would extend funding for the FFA. But it also included a $14 million cut in government largess that funds commercial services to small airports, like the one Harry Reid uses that sees only 500 passengers a year and gets rid of the requirement that allows unionization with a simple majority of 50% plus one.
So the Senate, not liking the bill, refused to pass the House version by July 23, when the funding for the FFA ended. To Harry Reid’s credit, he recommended the House bill be passed and that the FFA be funded so the workers can return to work. Barbara Boxer became apoplectic and refused to allow the bill to be voted on (remember, Boxer is a former oil futures trader so she has plenty of money and isn’t worried about her job).
Now, Steny Hoyer, et al, are trying to dump this on the House since it was really the Democrats that blocked the passage of the bipartisan bill that was already passed in the House. Instead, Hoyer needs to dump on Barbara Boxer who foiled Harry Reid’s plans to accept the House version and pass it.
The Senate has a bill. Reid wanted it passed so the FAA employees could go back to work. Boxer blocked it.
Whose at fault here, Greg?
@retire05:
For liberal/progressives like Greg, it’s always the opposition’s fault. And if the true facts don’t fit your rhetoric, then make up “facts”, or find other “facts” to “prove” your case. He just did this in another topic dumping the blame for everything that has happened in the economy since Clinton at the feet of the GOP, even though his “facts” don’t prove a damn thing.
So, republicans will throw away $1 billion in revenue to save $14 million that could be had by closing a couple of airports serving remote locations. This is an example of republican logic? Last time I checked, a billion was still one-thousand million–a rather larger multiplier than 14. Of course, the airports targeted for closing serve areas represented by prominent democrats, so that may be where the logic is found.
Small airports in remote locations are subsidized because that’s the only way access to air transport can remain available in such locations. Everything can’t always about profit. Sometimes it’s about maintaining an important service.
Republicans want to save $14 million? How about revisiting the $167 million in farm subsidy cuts that they artfully dodged a short while back? Might this have something to do with it?
Let’s take a look at the EWG (Environmental Working Group) that Greg chooses to present to us as his argument. First, the claim that Republicans took more than Democrats from farm subsidities is not backed by any facts in their arguement. Actually, the article Greg presents to us says that they DON’T KNOW how many members of Congress take farm subsidities, yet they feel like they can lay most of the cost at the feet of Republicans.
And who is EWG? It’s a spin off of the Tides Foundation, a group that supports other far-left groups. The founder of EWG is Kenneth Cook, formerly of GreenPeace, who is an environmental whacko. The board of EWG has such notables as Dummond Pike, founder of the Tides Foundation and David Fenton, former member of the Weatherman Underground, William Ayer’s little group.
This is the resource that Greg tries to push on us.
@retire05, #8:
There haven’t been any denials from subsidy recipients when they’ve been questioned directly about the EWG findings. Here’s an ABC News article with a video, dating from March 31 of this year. Note republican Steve Fincher’s evasive response when he’s asked on camera whether he would continue to take federal farm subsidies. (He has personally received over $100,000 in farm subsidies since 1995; his family farm has received over $3 million.) I would guess the answer would probably be yes–if you could ever get a straight answer–since farm subsidies were subsequently spared when republicans determined where federal spending cuts should be made.
There’s absolutely no reason to believe that the Environmental Working Group’s data isn’t completely factual. No one named has disputed any of those facts. They won’t, because what they’ve received is a matter of record. They’ll just avoid talking about it.
I noticed that Greg has completely ignored the fact the House did indeed pass a bill, which was sent to the Senate. If there is no funding for the FAA, the fault lies directly with the Senate’s inaction. Typical lib… when caught in the act of prevarication…. change the subject. (In this instance… to farm subsidies)
Sorry Greg… those tactics are so… five minutes ago!