The budget impasse and partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration that’s delaying about 200 airport projects across the country and causing 70,000 construction jobs to be furloughed is not having an impact at Baton Rouge Metro Airport. “It could delay some reimbursements on some federally funded projects that we’ve fronted money for to do initial surveys and things, but it’s not stopping any projects right now,” says Jim Caldwell, airport spokesman. The government could lose as much as $1.2 billion in revenue from uncollected airline ticket taxes in the standoff between Senate Democrats and House Republicans over union rules and rural air service subsidies. More than $250 million has already been lost in fewer than two weeks because the airlines’ authority to collect ticket taxes has expired.
The Senate is expected to leave Washington, D.C., by the end of the week for its August recess, meaning an agreement to end the delay may not be reached until September. The FAA’s long-term operating authority expired in 2007, and Congress has been unable to agree on a long-term funding plan ever since. The agency has continued to operate under a series of 20 short-term extensions. The latest extension expired at midnight on July 22. Nearly 4,000 FAA employees in 35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are also furloughed due to the shutdown. —Steve Sanoski
