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Failure To Close FAA Deal Leads To $1 Billion In Losses

August 5, 2011 by  

A lack of taxes on airline tickets may lose money for the FAA, but the effect on the airlines and consumers is still to be seen.The U.S. government may lose more than $1 billion in airline ticket taxes due to a lack of resolution on a partisan standoff concerning the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, The Associated Press reported.

Unable to collect taxes on ticket sales due to the expiration of the FAA’s operating authority, the government has already lost more than $200 million. A Senate recess until September has erased the possibility of a quick resolution, according to the news source.

A lack of taxes on airline tickets may lose money for the FAA, but the effect on the airlines and consumers is still to be seen, the AP reported.

The Senate stalemate has left more than 4,000 FAA workers without pay, leaving these employees out of work. Airport safety inspectors may have to continue working without compensation, something that does not bode well for travelers, The New York Times reported.

“Democrats have to decide if they are going to be the handmaidens of the labor unions in every policy,” Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the Senate Minority Whip, told the AP. “Every now and then they should put the American people first instead of their constituency.”

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  • jopa

    sc;When I go to the local Walmart I do on occasion strike up a conversation with the greeters at the door.Very nice and intelligent people just trying to make s few extra bucks for meds or for some just to get out and do something.Not many in Congress qualify for these jobs.

  • s c

    All this does is prove that the mental defectives in Congress have no functional standards when it comes to priorities. They take the same approach when it comes to the Post Office.
    At this stage, they’ll claim that the so-called ‘budget debate’ got in the way. It didn’t get in the way. It was a simple exercise in FEAR. They didn’t have any plans for debating the issue, let alone doing it RIGHT.
    As it stands now, because we have LOSERS in Congress and in the W H, American taxpayers will continue to FOOT THE BILL for having people in office who should be door-greeters at WalMart. Quite probably, half of them couldn’t keep that job if they were told tomorrow that they need to leave office and head for the nearest WalMart. LOSERS!

  • just a thinker

    They reached a compromise deal. The deal is: We’ll pass the law, but the Administrative branch will not enforce it.

    That is the same thing they’re doing with immigration.
    And the Constitution.
    And its Bill Of Rights.
    And…
    and…
    and…

  • Dan az

    What was the union motto back then oh ya buy American!Well that’s kinda hard to do now don’t ya think?Whats the motto now?Go work for the gubmnt it pays better?Where is the union when the company goes broke?I’ll tell you,on a sunny beach slurping up those dues that you paid!

  • Bob

    I worked for a large company where a union was involved and promotions were by seniority, not ability. The company bought out the union pension plan and everything changed for the better. Promotions were given to people that deserved it and the slackers were left behind. Unions may be good for sweat shops where employees are mistreated and under paid but in a good company they hold back a loyal and productive worker.

  • David

    Not all money out there is Obama’s? Airlines have taken the hit for years now, with regulations, fuel cost, and taxes eating away at profits. Now this money 1 billion is about 30 seconds of chump change for Obama, to appy this tax will only go to the ticket buyer who in turn well have less money to spend on vaction. Why doesn’t Obama just put a gun to our heads and take our wallet?

  • An American Patriot

    Grover and Eddie, if you would open your eyes to the truth, what you two are throwing in the mix is nothing less than class warfare.
    One says the unions are evil and the other bemoans the wealth of corporations.
    Let me try to educate you. Unions are neither good or evil. Union members naturally want the pay and benefits union bosses promise. The problem is the public sector union bosses. Every dime in pay and benefits union members receive is paid for by we, the taxpayers. Since public sector (read government employees)make 25% or more than private sector employees. Those private sector people are again, we the citizens who pay the taxes that lavishly support public sector employees and their union bosses. The bosses then take those fat union dues and funnel it to mostly democratic politicians who slavishly vote in more money and benefits for the union rank and file. Now the union bosses rake in more (bribe) money to (buy) off the pols and the beat goes on.
    If you want to be angry at anyone, it shouldn’t be union employees who naturally want more pay and benefits, but those union bosses and their thugs who intimidate anyone who protests against the union tactics.
    Also you should be angry at those low life politicians of both parties, who greedily stick out their hands for the union bribes so they can remain in office long after they have become total suck ups!
    Corporations, oh those evil corporations. Well lets see, they make products, they create jobs which are not paid for by we, the taxpayers, and if they are unionized, the pay and union dues are not provided by the taxpayers. Before you protest that public sector workers pay their dues out of their paychecks too, just bear in mind that their entire paycheck is provided very generously by we, the taxpayers. Corporations, on the other hand pay their employees from their profits which they earn. If corporate bosses live lavishly, at least they earned it and didn’t suck it out of we, the taxpayers. I know some corporate bosses are not totally honest and deserve to be punished if they violate the law.
    Public sector union bosses live lavishly at we, the taxpayers expense and they don’t care that our government is in deep debt and can’t afford all these large pay and benefit packages the union bosses demand.
    Bottom line remains that corrupt politicians who live better than kings of old have become hooked on union bribes (campaign contributions) and will continue lavishing taxpayer money on the public sector unions until the once great USA slides down into the slime pit of hell.
    You should be voting those corrupt politicians out in Nov. 2012 if we are to have any hope of reviving this once great country.

  • Bob

    The house has submitted a budget for the FAA and the senate has refused to act on the bill, I guess their vacation is more important.

  • come-and-take-it

    Hogwash and piffle Grover. Wrapping your semi-comatose comments in right vs left rhetoric doesn’t add anything to the national dialogue. Unions are a major contributor to the reason we have balance of trade and debt problems. Golden parachutes are only for the rich and shameless, you should know that by now. The only people who benefit from unions is the unions. Everyone else bites the big Schumerburger. This article was about big government ineptitude. It’s about organizations that get so big that they MUST fail. Unions and the government share the same ills and will ultimately share the same fate. They are both unaffordable and unsustainable. Remember bozo the unions were created to fight the corporations for workers rights. Now we the people are having to fight the government and the unions for financial survival. You can’t have all the money. Deal with it.

    • eddie47d

      You go after Grover for his right vs left rhetoric and then you go and do it yourself. You both made good points though. Unions may at times get out of hand but nothing like those corporatist and their”golden parachutes”.Union members spend in their community and help businesses flourish. Those corporate elite only pad their own bank account and the mom and pop shops gain nothing. The trickle down theory from the wealthy is smelling like rotted fish and needs to be thrown back in the ocean.

      • jibbs

        Do you think constrution workers need to make $35.00 to $45.00 an hour, plus benefits and over time, plus double time? It all sounds great, but the cost of what they do is passed down to the rest of us as a whole. The worst part is the person holding a flag in traffic making around $38.00 an hour plus the bennie’s and overtime.

        R&D Theil in Il. dropped their carpenters union membership last year, but their workers still make around $27.00 an hour plus bennies….that still totals over $60,000 a year. Not bad, eh!
        I have a union friend that operates heavy equipment near Wheaton IL. and made over $100,000.00 last year, plus a company truck and still complains…..they will close the doors in Sept., I’d say they worked themslves out of a job by charging way too much for service’s rendered. 47d, do you defend the unions?

      • David

        yeah so were do you see any of them working, most are on unemployment , yeah your right in a way, but greed always has away of correcting itself. The unions have destroyed this country, it was only a matter of time before it all collapsed. Look at your schools and the debt all the states have trying to pay this king ransoms to the retired teachers. Chicago alone is 108 billion in debt, in liberal terms were “winning”. Were did all that money go? Liberals go figure!

      • JimH

        jibbs, When I was younger people in the construction trades made more an hour because they were not working in the winter or in bad weather.
        The money made in summer had to last all year.
        Now they collect unemployment, or if it’s a mild winter they work year around. To answer your question, no those wages aren’t as necessary as they were in years past.

      • eddie47d

        Jibbs; Yes I support well paid construction jobs if the skill is there. There is way too much union envy on this site. Now as several others on this site have told me if I don’t like what someone else makes then apply for the job and earn more. Your stretching the truth about construction flaggers is noted . The average is $24,788 and yes I just looked it up. That is about $12.50 an hour. The highest in the USA is $39,500.

      • Dan az

        eddieee
        A flagger makes 23 dollars per hour starting
        Now add overtime at double time
        Holidays at double time unless you are on overtime and then it is triple time
        Sick time
        Vacation time
        Raises every 6 months
        Medical care for the whole family..
        And then retirement

        I had to pay my equipment operators more than 100 dollars per hour on Cal Trans job sites.
        That is what the union scale is because I did not offer paid vacations, paid sick leave, health insurance or retirement…..
        On a union scale job I had to pay flaggers 60 dollars per hour………This is what I PAID THEM…….
        60 dollars per hour x 40 hour week = 2400 per week with no overtime…..Way more than a 100k per year because there will be all of the overtime you like.
        Now I know that you will try to justify it so have at it!

  • Grover

    It all comes down to the extremist on the far right wanting to take away the rights of the transportation workers to be unionized. Delta has bribed some of their lackeys in the Transylvania tea party to mike it illegal for the transportation workers to be unionized.

    I hate to see the FAA partial shutdown, but to let the blood suckers get away with stripping the union rights of these workers is unacceptable.

    • jibbs

      You and most of the voters just don’t “get it”.

      • http://comcast the fisherman

        Where is freedomo of choice and freedom of speach gone to . Or is it your as free as i want you to be

    • Bob

      Boeing invested almost 1 billion dollars in the new manufacturing plant in S.C. and the NLRB is keeping it from opening and depriving over 1,000 workers of employment. S.C. is a right to work state which many people don’t comprehend. Unions are allowed, but employees are not forced to join. The would be employees have rejected the union overwhelmingly and this does not sit well with Obama’s NLRB. Boeing has contracts to fill by certain dates and if they cannot produce the airlines will purchase from another supplier, like Airbus, a foreign manufacturer. Then again Boeing may just get fed up with the political interference and move to China, then all the union workers in Washington will be on welfare. Politics has no business in private industry.

      • Dan az

        And speaking of unions what about the ACLU wanting to unionize and control the TSA.Another gubmnt control that over steps its authority.

  • http://deleted Claire

    Things are not what they seem, doublespeak is the name of the game. Until such time the politicians “shed” their cloaks of lobbyists, pork, earmarks, and begin to “work” for the salvation of America, nothing will be accomplished. The research I have done so far does not make me think any of these political parties are “good” for the American people. It appears they want two classes of people–the rich and the poor. That way they can keep the poor people “in line.” There are left wing and right wing organizations–they are playing with our minds and our lives. They all want to rule the world. Sure, they tell us what we want to hear so that they will be elected. Now they are supposed to be working on the “jobs” issue—but I thought they all left DC and went home? All I can say is good luck. This is another problem that will not be solved. These two political parties are making sure no one succeeds at anything. They are only interested in destroying each other while America flounders. Nice bunch of people. I hope they destroy each other instead of destroying America.

    • http://comcast the fisherman

      Go girl ,you tell them

    • ValDM

      Claire,
      They aren’t opposites. They are one and the same. You’re right that they want to rule, but WE the people are their enemy and they won’t rest until our fortunes (ha ha) are gone and EVERY one of us lives in abject poverty, making us dependent on them for any morsel of food, shelter, clothing, or anything else we NEED…….forget any luxuries like hygiene, health care or any other need they consider frivolous. If one of us dies, there’s at least 100 more right behind us that will grovel for what we had.

  • granny mae

    All these people working without pay need to remember who it was that dropped the ball and let them understand just who they work for come election time ! The Senate sure isn’t going to miss one of their pay checks. If they did there would be a loud enough noise made that it would be heard from sea to shinning sea in this country ! These things don’t mean much to the people in Washington because they don’t feel the consequences of lost wages. If they did then they would have something to go by as to how important their job really is ! They give a lot of attention to high profile matters that will give them points they hope to score at election time but not much attention to anything else ! I can’t see where any of them have earned their salary so fire all of them possible when voting time comes. After two consecutive times of major turn overs they may just get the point to shape up ! Then again I may want to rethink that statement !!!!

    • http://comcast the fisherman

      Congress drop the ball. They were in a hurry to cut and cap. That they foregot to look at that. But that is ok they do not care for anyone but them selfs

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