Washington, DC – The following is the statement of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) on the Senate’s failure to take up a House-passed extension of FAA programs and funding, resulting in furloughs of thousands of FAA employees and the suspension of airport infrastructure projects:

“To put people back to work and restart FAA programs, the Senate needs to adopt the FAA extension passed by the House last Wednesday.

“If the Senate cannot agree to a simple provision, which it approved earlier this year, to eliminate excessive subsidies between $1,358 and $3,720 per ticket at three airports, then we don’t need to convene a conference meeting.

“Those 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed so some in the Senate can protect their own political pork with airline ticket subsidies of more than $3,700 per passenger. For example, subsidies are this exorbitant in Ely, Nevada for each of the 471 passengers flying in and out of the airport each year.

“I stand ready and committed to work with the Senate and all parties on an FAA bill, but the only way to get FAA employees back to work immediately is for the Senate to act now.”

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