UPDATED WITH OBAMA REMARKS Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he has a deal with the Republican House to end the 2-week-old standoff that shut down the Federal Aviation Administration.
Reid issued a statement Thursday afternoon. It reads: “I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work. This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain. But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that.”
President Obama applauded the deal in a statement: “I’m pleased that leaders in Congress are working together to break the impasse involving the FAA so that tens of thousands of construction workers and others can go back to work. We can’t afford to let politics in Washington hamper our recovery, so this is an important step forward.”
In essence, the deal amounts to a temporary disarmament from both Republicans and Democrats. According to Senate aides, the Senate is prepared to accept the House’s bill, the one that pared back the Essential Air Service subsidy program for rural airports. BUT the Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will use his authority to waive that provision.
Translation: The Senate swallows the House bill it hated, but the Obama Administration uses its authority to keep actual policy where it was.
A spokesman for Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) confirmed the deal.
The Senate could push the deal through as early as Friday.
LaHood issued this statement moments after Reid announced the deal: “This is a tremendous victory for American workers everywhere. From construction workers to our FAA employees, they will have the security of knowing they are going to go back to work and get a paycheck — and that’s what we’ve been fighting for. We have the best aviation system in the world and we intend to keep it that way.”
Notice the part of Reid’s statement making it clear that difficult issues still remain between Republicans and Democrats on the FAA. The Essential Air Service issue will still have to be solved, as will a bruising fight over Obama Administration rules that made it easier for workers airline and rail employees to unionize. We’ll be back at this in September.
