Reid announces deal to end FAA furloughs:cuts to rural flight service, LaHood to use his authority

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/175541-reid-announces-deal-to-end-faa-furloughs

(snip)
Under a deal Reid made with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Senate will pass the House bill that
includes cuts to rural flight service to airports in Nevada, West Virginia and Montana. But Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will use his authority to waive the airports from the cuts, ending a 13-day impasse that left 4,000 FAA employees and about 70,000 construction employees out of work.

Reid said the deal did not solve the issues that led to the partial shutdown of the FAA, but he said those can be dealt with another day.

“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," Reid said in a statement released by his office. "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.”

LaHood agreed, calling the deal "a tremendous victory for American workers everywhere."



Greg Sargent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/faa-deal-reached-but-dems-still-face-major-test-with-labor/2011/03/03/gIQAhy4luI_blog.html
FAA deal reached, but Dems still face major test with labor
(snip)
Dems deserve credit for not buckling in this fight — so far — as unions like the Communication Workers of America have successfully demanded. But it needs to be loudly restated that this has become a make-or-break issue for unions at a time when labor is very unhappy with the national Democratic party and has plenty of strategic incentives for channeling resources away from Federal races and into state-level battles. Dems have postponed it for now, but a major test for organized labor still lies ahead.

about this. This is the type of pressure that is needed on the Repugs. We need to continue to be visible, vocal and call them on every underhanded and sinister thing they do to hurt this country. LaHood kept the pressure up - and kudos to him.