Construction Resumes On Oakland International Airport Control Tower
OAKLAND (KCBS) - Construction has resumed on the new control tower at Oakland International Airport.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California, who came to the airport Tuesday, warned that work could stop again unless Congress meets another funding deadline for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The US Senate and House leaders reached a temporary agreement earlier this month to fund the agency.
KCBS' Doug Sovern:
That agreement, which expires on September 16h, ended a 12-day standoff that furloughed roughly 4,000 FAA members.
The stoppage also idled 70,000 construction workers at airports around the country, including Oakland's $31 million tower project.
"We have to extend this FAA again. It expires, the extension, mid-September, and I don't want to be back here looking at a work stoppage," said Senator Boxer.
"I want to be back here saying hooray. We managed to do the right thing by our working people."
Boxer is waiting for House Speaker John Boehner to name representatives to a conference committee on which she already sits to negotiate a long-term funding solution for the FAA.
The Democratic Senator contends Republicans made clear their top priority isn't fixing the economy, it's defeating President Obama. Members of the GOP disagree.
Ground was broken for Oakland's new 236-foot control tower last October. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.
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