(Image Source: Wikimedia)

BY STEVEN HSIEH

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
 

After Congress failed to approve new funding for the Federal Aviation Administration – the agency went into a partial-shutdown over the weekend.

The FAA halted airport construction projects across the country, and almost 4000 non-essential workers were furloughed. Former FAA administrator Marion Blakey tells Fox – the timing could not be worse.

“These are people who are responsible for airport construction projects. They are the ones getting the money out the door. And this is the height of the construction season, the height of the travel season. This is a heck of a time to have people have to stay home who need to be on the job."

Republicans want to cut subsidies for air service to rural airports – and make it harder for air and rail workers to unionize. A writer for TIME explains the tactics of Republican Congressman John Mica.

“He’s passed an FAA extension that specifically omits ludicrous subsidies for rural airports in Ely, Nev., Morgantown, W. Va., and Glendive, Mont. Which just happen to be located in the home states of… the three Democrats he’s been fighting with over the FAA."

The full legislation authorizing operations for the agency has apparently been put off for four years -- with some 20 extensions taking its place.
A blogger for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls it “legislative chicken” and asks -- sound familiar?

“This dispute echoes the battle now going on in the Congress over the budget and debt limit, as neither side wants to give and both say the other is guilty of refusing to compromise and address wasteful spending." 

But -- for travelers, there may be an upside to the shutdown. The government stopped collecting taxes on tickets. But NBC’s Luke Russert says – travelers’ gains are someone else’s losses.

Russert: “Most likely, if you bought a ticket to fly this weekend, you will get $60 to $80 off of it. The FAA, though, says that’s bad because they’re going to lose over $200 million a week in ticket sales which go to run their operations." 
Anchor: “Yeah, well that is a bummer for them. But, okay, I’m going to go online and buy tickets at noon when I get off the set.

But a writer for Forbes notes – with a bit of humor -- things could change at any moment.

“…you have to act fast: there’s no guarantee that the ‘tax free’ flights will continue on any given day. Congress is supposed to be fixing things (insert hysterical laughter here) but in the meantime, there’s no clear direction for taxpayers." 

For a list of airlines offering tax-free promotions, check the link in our transcript section.
 

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Transcript by Newsy.