Obama signs bill to end two-week FAA shutdown

President Obama has signed the bill to end the nearly two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the White House announced Friday afternoon. 

With Obama’s signature, furloughs for 4,000 FAA workers come to end and the beleaguered agency will be funded through Sept. 16. 

Negotiations on the bill had been bogged down by provisions in the House version that cut subsidies for flight service to 13 rural airports, including facilities in Montana, Nevada and West Virginia. 

The cuts, especially the latter three, drew strong objections from Democrats because they are located in the districts of key Senate leaders.

{mosads}Democratic senators argued the cuts were political retribution for their objection to labor provisions that have held up talks about a longer funding bill for the FAA. 

The shutdown, which began July 23, is estimated to have cost the federal government $30 million because taxes that are normally collected on airline ticket purchases were unable to be deposited in the Aviation Trust Fund.  

In addition to the 4,000 furloughed FAA workers, transportation observers said another 70,000 workers were placed out of work because about 200 airport construction projects were canceled during the impasse. 

Earlier this week, Obama had called the shutdown of the FAA an “example of how undone work in Washington can have an adverse effect on the economy.”