FAA shutdown could cost US $1bn (£610m) in lost taxes

The US could lose up to $1bn (£610m) in airline ticket taxes, officials say, amid an impasse in Congress over the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The agency has been forced into partial shutdown after its operating authority expired on 23 July.
The government has already lost more than $200m because airlines are unable to collect taxes on ticket sales. Some 4,000 FAA staff are on unpaid leave.
Lawmakers are not due back from their annual leave until September.
Close to 4,000 FAA employees, including engineering technicians and computer specialists, have been forced to take a temporary leave of absence because of the partial shutdown.
The FAA has also told about 70,000 construction workers on airport projects to stop work.
It is reported to have asked dozens of airport inspectors to work without pay and charge their government travel expenses to their personal credit cards.
"These men and women are now being asked to spend their own money to do their jobs... This is one of the most outrageous things that I can comprehend," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said during a news conference on Wednesday.
Union rights Congressional lawmakers have been deadlocked on whether to extend the FAA's funding because of a row over ending subsidies to 13 rural airports.
Republicans also want to reverse new rules which give airline employees greater trade union rights, a move Democrats have struck back against.

Ray LaHood US Transportation Secretary

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives did pass legislation that included cuts and kept the FAA's operating authority in place until mid-September.

But Senate Democrats opposed the cuts and went into recess on Tuesday until early September without voting on the bill.
A spokesman for Democratic leader Harry Reid said the Senate would not allow House Republicans to "jam through a policy" on subsidies within a stop-gap funding extension bill.
The partial shutdown is expected to last at least until congressmen arrive back from their annual break.
But Mr Reid said on Wednesday the dispute could be resolved sooner if Republicans agreed to a congressional procedure called unanimous consent that did not require lawmakers to cast votes in person.
"I hope Republicans understand how desperate people are out there," Mr Reid said, adding that conservatives were "taking Americans hostage" by not passing the bill to end the partial shutdown.
Mr Reid said he was prepared to accept the House bill to extend the FAA's authority until 16 September and eliminate subsidies for the 13 airports.
The FAA debate was overshadowed earlier in the week by last-minute legislation passed in Congress to increase the US debt ceiling and avert a financial default.
'Another Washington wound' The shutdown is costing the federal government some $200m per week in passenger ticket taxes that can no longer be collected, officials say.
On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called for Congress to come back and pass on a short-term bill resolving the dispute.
"Come back to Washington. Leave your vacations. Come back, Congress," Mr LaHood said.
"This is not fair to people. These are people that work hard, these are people right in the middle of construction season," Mr LaHood said.
"This is why people shake their heads when they think about Congress," he added.
On Tuesday, before the Senate began its annual summer break, President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to take immediate action on the bill, saying the impasse was "another Washington-inflicted wound on America".

Some airlines raised their ticket prices within hours of the 23 July partial shutdown

Mr LaHood echoed the same sentiments on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and placed calls to senators, urging them to pass the measure to end the shutdown.
"We have heard many, many grandiose speeches by members of Congress about creating jobs and putting people to work," said Mr LaHood, adding that "laying off 70,000 construction workers" was not the way to achieve that goal.
Airline passengers are not being forced to pay ticket taxes, which average around 10% of each fare, while the political scuffle continues.
But within hours of the shutdown on 23 July, many airlines had raised their fares by the amounts equivalent to the taxes that were no longer being collected.
Mr LaHood responded to the hikes at a White House news conference in late July, saying airlines should not have their raised fares and that he had contacted major carriers to express his dissatisfaction.
The air service subsidy programme costs the federal government about $200m per year, approximately the amount the government lost during the first week of the FAA partial shutdown.

Posted in: US