President Obama will likely take some blame for Congress’ inability to end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, unless the president uses his executive powers to take matters into his own hands, political analysts say.
The White House is reviewing Obama’s legislative options after Congress left town Tuesday without acting on an FAA bill that would have funded $11 billion in stalled construction projects and allow 74,000 laid-off workers to be rehired. The bill has stalled largely because of a dispute over the unionization of workers.
“Right now it’s Congress’ problem,” said Darrell West, vice president of government studies at the Brookings Institution. “But if [Obama] doesn’t do anything, it becomes his problem.”
The U.S. government will lose out on roughly $1 billion in airline ticket taxes this month if FAA funding is not approved until Congress reconvenes in September, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Obama has made a number of public statements condemning Congress’ inaction, but his use of the bully pulpit has been unsuccessful thus far.
“I’ve made calls to key leaders and am urging them to get this done,” Obama said Wednesday. “This is not the kind of thing that is complicated.”
Obama’s powers are somewhat limited when it comes to influencing a congressional impasse — especially when Congress is in recess.
But he doesn’t need the legislature to return funding to the FAA, according to West.
Obama has the power, by first declaring a national emergency, to issue an executive order that would temporarily fund the FAA until Congress reconvenes, West said.
“If they find that he can act [to fund the FAA] by executive order, you can’t blink fast enough before [Obama] will act,” said Peter Fenn, a professor of political management at George Washington University. “And he should act. … This is about jobs.”
During what is normally the busiest time of the construction season, 70,000 construction workers are now idle because construction projects at airports across the country have been put on hold. About 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed.
“Congress turned a blind eye to these workers and their families,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said from the White House Wednesday. “For members of Congress to give speeches about jobs and then go on their vacations while construction workers have vacated their jobs rings very hollow.”
That same criticism could be turned on Obama if he fails to take initiative while Congress is out of session, Fenn said.
But White House press secretary Jay Carney bristled when reporters demanded to know whether Obama planned to exercise his executive powers on behalf of the FAA.
“The party that created this problem is out of town and the reporters here are blaming the party that wants the problem fixed,” he said.
