2:37pm | Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced a deal Thursday, August 4, that will end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The bipartisan compromise will help get 74,000 transportation and construction workers back on the job. The deal allows the Senate to approve a House-passed bill that extends the FAA operating authority through mid-September. A  provision that cuts $16.5 million in air services subsidies to rural communities is expected to be waived or negated by the White House.

“This is a tremendous victory for American workers everywhere,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

July 29, 11:01am | About $2.5 billion in airport construction funding has been frozen by the federal government, putting a halt to dozens of construction projects at airports nationwide and thretening modernization work at Long Beach Airport.

Some $1.7 million in federal funds that the airport was planning to use for runway and taxiway improvements has been stalled due to a budget impasse in the U.S. Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.

The work that was to be covered by the anticipated federal funding is already underway, 

Work on the airfield upgrades will continue as scheduled, airport officials said. While they are optimistic that the funds will eventually become available, they said that savings would cover the cost of those specific airfield improvements until the federal funding is dispersed. 

Republicans and Democrats are butting heads over funding provisions for the FAA. GOP members want to cut funding and scale back labor rights for FAA workers, while Democrats seek to maintain current staffing levels and continue subsidizing rural airport.

The airport recently celebrated the first modernization project to be completed, a nearly 2,000-space, five-story parking structure that was completed four months early and $2 million under budget.
 
The FAA has been partially shut down temporarily, putting approximately 4,000 staffers out of work. Reuters is also reporting that roughly 70,000 workers will likely lose their jobs