Mica: Union protesting lack of long-term FAA bill ‘being used’ by Democrats

{mosads} The station released snippets of the interview with Mica on Monday. In them, Mica was again unapologetic for the role he played in the impasse that partially shut down the FAA, which has caused some observers to fear a repeat when Congress returns from recess.

“I will use every means possible to get a long-term, four-year reauthorization,” Mica told the radio station. “After four and a half years of Democrat delay, we will find a way to make one of most important transportation agencies function and also compete in the global international aviation market.”

The AFA-CWA was harshly critical of Mica and other Republican leaders during the FAA shutdown.

Like Democrats in the Senate, the union argued during the impasse that the disagreement between the chambers was really about a House effort to undo a change to union rules intended to make it easier for airline and railroad employees to vote to collectively bargain.

“Anti-union ideologues, led by Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), are attacking working families by demanding inclusion of a provision that has nothing to do with the daily operation of U.S. air travel,” the union said this month in its newsletter. “Boehner, Cantor and Mica are disregarding the democratic principle that majority rules — demanding instead that votes not cast be counted as ‘no’ votes. Not one member of Congress would be in office today if they were held to the same standard in their elections.”
 
The shutdown of the FAA was projected to have cost the federal government $30 million per day in lost sales taxes on airline ticket purchases.

In addition to the FAA workers who were furloughed, about 70,000 construction employees were estimated to have been put out of work by the shutdown because over 200 airport construction projects were stalled.

The bill that was eventually passed to end the shutdown only funds the FAA through Sept. 16.