End airport funding shutdown: Obama to Congress

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama called on Congress Wednesday to return from vacation to end a row which has shut airport expansion projects and halted tax payments by airlines, which could cost a billion dollars.

"This is a lose-lose-lose situation that can be easily solved if Congress gets back into town and does its job," Obama said, after lawmakers left Washington without extending funding for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The cash crunch has forced the FAA to temporarily lay off 4,000 non essential workers and halt work for 70,000 workers on airport construction projects, though top officials say air safety is not at risk.

The FAA has for several years been struggling by on more than 20 temporary funding grants from the government amid a row between Democrats and Republicans over conditions for its long-term funding.

But with Congress consumed by a crisis over raising the US government borrowing limit, only averted by a last-minute deal, lawmakers left for their summer break without dealing with the FAA's cash crunch.

Obama and top officials said that extending FAA funding would not even require all lawmakers to fly back to Washington, saying the action could be completed by a few members of Congress under procedures governing the recess.

The president pointed out that as well as keeping large numbers of workers off the job on repairing crumbling aviation infrastructure, the dispute was costing the government 200 million dollars a week in lost tax revenues.

Airlines were still collecting taxes on tickets sold but may not be keen to give it back to the government, even after Congress is expected to restore funding when it returns to work in September, he said.

"The federal government stands to lose 200 million dollars a week -- that would be a billion dollars at a time when we are worrying about how we pay for everything," Obama said at a cabinet meeting.

"We don't anticipate it is going to be easy getting that money back," he said.

"This is an example of a self-inflicted wound that is unnecessary."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011