The Senate agreed to a compromise with House Republicans. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood agreed to waive cuts to Essential Air Service, a sticking point in the standoff. They voted Friday. Here's the AP on what happened:
The Senate approved legislation yesterday that ended a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, and President Obama signed it into law, clearing the way for thousands of employees to return to work and hundreds of airport construction projects to resume...
Obama’s signature means nearly 4,000 furloughed FAA employees can return to work as soon as Monday. The shutdown has cost the government about $400 million in uncollected airline ticket taxes and idled thousands of construction workers.Here's Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa:
I applaud the Senate and Secretary LaHood for their willingness to put the public interest first. But this hostage-taking has to stop. House Republicans can’t continue to threaten the well-being of our country for petty partisan advantage. Our elected officials should not be forcing Americans out of work to settle political scores.Poor widdle Johnny Mica, the Florida Republican who led the House negotiators, whined that he had a "brutal week." Mica forced the FAA's partial shutdown because he wanted to weaken labor unions by changing the rules for organizing elections. He phoned Dana Milbank at the Washington Post,
“I’ve had a brutal week, getting beat up by everybody,” Mica told me, minutes after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal that would end the shutdown and avoid the cuts to regional air service that Mica wanted.
“I didn’t know it would cause this much consternation,” Mica said. “Now I’ve just got to get the broom and the shovel and clean up the mess.” Switching metaphors, he said he wanted “to unclog the toilet, but it backed up. So I don’t know what to do, what to say...”
“A lot of people hate me now and think I’m the worst thing in the world for what I did.”Well, yeah.
