The federal workers who were laid off because of the political impasse between the House and Senate over the extension of the FAA bill will be getting back pay, eventually.
Of course, this adds to the economic disaster that was foisted on the taxpayers by this irresponsible brinkmanship. Both sides are to blame when the government loses around $400 million in tax collections and then has to make good on pay to federal workers and perhaps have to pay more for overtime to make up for lost construction time.
Here is the statement from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released this morning in Washington, DC.
Transportation Committee leaders and Members of Congress today introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees who were furloughed during the two-week partial shutdown of the agency receive back pay.
H.R. 2814, the “Furloughed FAA Employees Compensation Act,” (click to read text) would grant the U.S. Secretary of Transportation the authority to pay the salaries and related benefits of those federal employees furloughed during the partial FAA shutdown that began at midnight on July 22, 2011 and ended on August 5, 2011. The funding for back pay will come from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) introduced the legislation, and was joined by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL), U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ).
“For the past two weeks it was important to get these workers back on the job. Now my focus is to get them back pay and to ensure this avoidable situation never happens again,” said LoBiondo.
“This legislation is the right thing to do to ensure that the thousands of hardworking FAA employees who got temporarily left behind by the unnecessary partial shutdown of the agency will not be financially penalized,” said Mica. “The House and Senate must now work to ensure the end of a 4½ year delay in passing a long-term FAA bill.”
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
