Impasse means McCarran workers off job through August

WASHINGTON -- Construction on a new control tower at McCarran International Airport, along with the jobs of more than three dozen workers, will remain shelved through August after Congress failed to break a deadlock over funding for the federal aviation agency.

House and Senate lawmakers conducted a flurry of last-minute negotiations over the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday after they finally completed passage of the major bill to raise the debt ceiling and reduce the deficit. The talks brought Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to the Capitol.

But at the end of the day the Senate recessed empty-handed for a month-long summer break, not to return until after Labor Day. The House was in not in active session, but officials said any late breakthrough could have been passed by consent.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., told National Public Radio that the FAA "will be closed until ... maybe not September, maybe more than that."

Airport improvements in 35 states came to a halt on July 23 when Congress failed to extend the FAA's legal operating authority. The agency had issued 248 stop work orders as of Tuesday on contracts valued at $10.4 billion.

The work shut down when the FAA furloughed 3,492 federal workers, including engineers required to be on the sites to ensure projects were being carried out to specifications.

The Associated General Contractors of America said 70,000 jobs were at risk including 24,000 construction workers, 11,000 in supply industries and as many as 35,000 jobs in the broader economy.

In Las Vegas, 40 to 50 workers were laid off at McCarran where foundation digging and other groundwork had been under way for several weeks on the new $43 million air traffic control tower.

The continuing shutdown is causing pain for workers who don't get paid if they don't get work, and headaches for managers, said John Yusunas, southwest district manager for subcontractor Anderson Drilling.

Yusunas said he pulled a 15-person crew off a five-week job of drilling the deep foundation for the 352-foot control tower that will be nearly double the height of the existing tower.

"I don't know what to tell them," Yusunas said. "I'm unclear on a restart date but if it is going to be another month, some of them will probably have to go find some more work."

When the McCarran project resumes, "I'll probably have to rehire and reorientate and re-drug test a new crew," he said. "The problem with construction is start dates slide and stuff. Once you get on a job and you get started, you like to knock it out."

Anderson Drilling is working on a $520,000 contract. Yusunas estimates the loss of 22 working days in August calculates to $132,000 in losses, although the FAA has said that taxpayers will end up bearing the added costs for construction delays.

In Congress, the two parties could not reach compromise on a short-term extension to Sept. 16 for the FAA while they continue to negotiate a multiple-year bill to keep the agency in operation.

The immediate roadblock was a Republican proposal to cut $16.5 million in subsidies to airlines that provide passenger service to remote communities. Those include Ely in eastern Nevada, where the subsidy per passenger is $3,270, the highest in the nation.

Beneath that, however, is a dispute over union organizing. The Republican-controlled House acted to overturn a 2009 decision by the National Mediation Board that the GOP said would make it easier for unions to organize airline and railway workers.

Democrats say Republicans acting at the behest of nonunion Delta Airlines are trying to stymie worker rights.

The labor provision is not a part of the short-term FAA bill, but Democrats charged the Republicans were holding the FAA bill hostage to gain leverage on the issue.

"In a stunning display of politics over people, the House Republicans' insistence on attaching anti-worker provisions to an aviation bill has brought about a terrible stalemate that is hurting the economy," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

"From day one, House GOP leaders admitted openly -- almost proudly -- that they were doing this to gain 'leverage' toward a larger goal -- undermining worker rights," Rockefeller said.

At midday, Reid said he was prepared to accept an agreement that would reduce the rural air subsidies to get the construction projects restarted.

But that deal fell through, Democrats said, along with other entreaties.

"We have 80,000 jobs on the line," Reid told reporters. "In Nevada we have a new airport tower where they started work two weeks ago and all those workers have been laid off. That is a huge project."

Reid said he was supportive of the Essential Air Service program that subsidizes rural air flights, "but I also believe that $3,500 per passenger is pretty extreme.

"I do my best to protect my state," he said, referring to the Ely subsidy, "but sometimes you have to be reasonable."

At the White House, President Barack Obama beseeched lawmakers to end the stalemate. He said "politics" were putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk.

"It's another Washington-inflicted wound on America, and Congress needs to break that impasse now, hopefully before the Senate adjourns, so these folks can get back to work," Obama said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.