Secretary LaHood: Key Airport Projects Across the Country in Jeopardy Unless Congress Passes an FAA Bill

July 21, 2011
The current FAA reauthorization expires at midnight this Friday, July 22, 2011. Congress has extended the FAA’s authorization 20 separate times without controversy.

WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Randy Babbitt today warned that new construction projects will not begin and many will be delayed if Congress is unable to work out its differences and pass a clean extension of the FAA Reauthorization bill.

“Congress needs to do its work. If they can’t pass a bill, local construction workers throughout the nation will see their projects and paychecks come to a halt. This is no way to run the best aviation system in the world,” said Secretary LaHood.

The current FAA reauthorization expires at midnight this Friday, July 22, 2011. Congress has extended the FAA’s authorization 20 separate times without controversy. Without an extension, FAA will be unable to move forward on important airport construction projects that include good paying jobs for local communities across the country.

The Airport Improvement Program, which provides construction project grants to airports, will be shut down and unable to provide roughly $2.5 billion for airport projects in all 50 states that could put thousands of people to work in good paying jobs. A detailed breakdown of this funding by state is below.

“Controversial provisions in the House passed bill are needlessly threatening critical FAA programs and jeopardizing thousands of public and private sector jobs. I urge Congress to resolve its differences so we do not have to needlessly furlough employees who are performing valuable work for the public,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. Without another extension, up to 4,000 FAA employees in 35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will be furloughed and forced to go without pay. Large numbers of employees in New Jersey, New York, California, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Illinois and the District of Columbia will be affected. This includes many of FAA’s engineers, scientists, research analysts, administrative assistants, computer specialists, program managers and analysts, environmental protection specialists, and community planners. A detailed list of states where employees will be furloughed is below.

In addition, without this legislation, approximately $200 million a week in airline taxes will not be collected or deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF).

States Facing Loss of Construction Dollars

Alaska 69,700,000

Alabama 32,400,000

Arkansas 25,900,000

American Samoa 3,500,000

Arizona 35,100,000

California 131,500,000

Colorado 34,200,000

Connecticut 4,700,000

District of Columbia 300,000

Delaware 800,000

Florida 88,000,000

Georgia 67,100,000

Guam 2,000,000

Hawaii 21,300,000

Iowa 41,100,000

Idaho 17,500,000

Illinois 90,300,000

Indiana 19,400,000

Kansas 41,900,000

Kentucky 18,700,000

Louisiana 33,500,000

Massachusetts 17,900,000

Maryland 9,100,000

Maine 12,700,000

Michigan 36,400,000

Minnesota 36,200,000

Missouri 24,600,000

Northern Mariana Islands 2,200,000

Mississippi 34,600,000

Montana 18,700,000

North Carolina 45,600,000

North Dakota 22,800,000

Nebraska 21,900,000

New Hampshire 3,700,000

New Jersey 44,700,000

New Mexico 25,400,000

Nevada 36,000,000

New York 62,600,000

Ohio 38,900,000

Oklahoma 54,800,000

Oregon 16,500,000

Pennsylvania 28,300,000

Puerto Rico 15,900,000

Rhode Island 1,100,000

South Carolina 30,700,000

South Dakota 25,700,000

Tennessee 34,700,000

Texas 72,100,000

Utah 10,100,000

Virginia 40,500,000

Virgin Islands 2,200,000

Vermont 4,800,000

Washington 37,900,000

Wisconsin 25,300,000

West Virginia 10,800,000

Wyoming 15,900,000

TOTAL 1,700,200,000*

*This does not include $800,000 in discretionary funding.

States Where FAA Employees Will Be Furloughed

ALASKA

ARIZONA

CALIFORNIA

COLORADO

CONNECTICUT

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

FLORIDA

GEORGIA

HAWAII

IDAHO

ILLINOIS

INDIANA

KANSAS

MARYLAND

MASSACHUSETTS

MICHIGAN

MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

MONTANA

NEVADA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NEW JERSEY

NEW MEXICO

NEW YORK

NORTH DAKOTA

OHIO

OKLAHOMA

PENNSYLVANIA

SOUTH DAKOTA

TENNESSEE

TEXAS

UTAH

VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON

WEST VIRGINIA

PUERTO RICO