Philip Lander, president and CEO of Atlantic Defense Constructors, Portland, Maine, says his firm had to reassign and demobilize people as a result of the work-stop order for a $935,000 structural innovation and seismic upgrade of a control tower at Portland International Jetport.

“[The work stoppage] has disrupted our schedule and is a big concern since our project is temperature- and time-sensitive for getting windows into the control tower,” Lander says. “We have to move heavy glass with cranes, and we want to complete it in warm weather, before September or October.”

Congressional Logjam

Industry observers say they are worried about the ability of Congress to reach a deal. Both chambers have passed a multi-year reauthorization bill, but a conference committee has yet to be formed because congressional negotiators cannot agree on the essential air-service requirement as well as a potential labor-related provision supported by Republicans.

The House bill would provide $15 billion a year for four years; the Senate bill would provide $17.3 billion a year for the next two years.

“The extension and the debate that went with it didn't resolve the underlying policy issues,” says Jane Calderwood, vice president for government and political affairs at Airports Council International. “But our belief has been and continues to be that the policy issues need to be worked out during the negotiations between the House and Senate on the underlying FAA bill,” not the short-term extensions.

The FAA estimated it was losing $30 million a day during the stop-work period—a loss that will probably not be made up, Calderwood notes. The airport trust fund “will take a hit, and that will have consequences,” she says.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) says it is critical the House and Senate leadership work out their differences in the next few weeks so that a multiyear FAA reauthorization bill can be sent to the president.

However, Mica warns, “If the Senate refuses to negotiate on the few remaining issues, they can be assured that every tool at our disposal will be utilized to ensure a long-term bill is signed into law.”

AGC's Deery says the “political gamesmanship” seen in Congress during the debt-ceiling negotiations and the FAA crisis do not bode well for either long-term reauthorization of agency funding or, of even more concern for some, the highway reauthorization bill. The current highway extension expires on Sept. 30.

“I'm really afraid we could be facing that same sort of stalemate as we get into transportation reauthorization,” Deery says, adding, “This has real-world impact, and it does result in people not getting jobs.”