Report: Obama Signs Bill To End FAA Shutdown
ROMULUS (WWJ/AP) - According to a source speaking to the Associated Press, President Barack Obama has signed a Senate bill that will end a partial shutdown of the FAA. The two-week shutdown cost the government about $400 million in uncollected airline ticket taxes.
Will that hurt Detroit's Metro Airport? Spokesman Mike Conway says he's not yet sure.
"The FAA collects this ticket tax money and then they distribute it to various ellkgible projects across the country. So, theoretically it is possible that fuding for us could be less on a project down the road than it would have been because they lost out on a sifnificant amount of money," he said.
Conway said he was surprised, but happy, to hear about the hasty compromise.
"This extention is very welcome for us ... We're not 100 percent sure, but we hope this means that the $8 million we were anticipating from the Federal Aviation Administration for our taxiway Zulu project will in fact come through," he said.
Conway said the airport could not shut down the $8 million taxiway project, but without the bill, would have had to find another way to pay for it.
An estimated 4,000 workers were idled dut to the shut down. Transportation officials say FAA employees could return to work and payments for airport construction projects could resume as soon as Monday.
The official spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the signing had not been formally announced.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
