Reid betrays hand in FAA partial shutdown

There are a couple of reasons there is a partial FAA shutdown. Here is the first: Democrats, led by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), are more interested in continuing exorbitant subsidies for little-used rural airports, such as one in his home state.

The majority leader mentions the other one, as NPR explains:

But Reid says the problem actually lies with one airline: Delta.

"The House has tried to make this a battle over essential air service," he says. "It's not a battle over essential air service. It's a battle over Delta Airlines, who refuses to allow votes under the new rules that have been passed by the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board]."

The issue, Reid says, is Delta's "non-union" stance. The bill to fund the FAA, as crafted by House Republicans, includes language that sets new rules for aviation workers' votes on labor representation.

Actually NPR is wrong. The House wants to put back in place a 75 year-old rule that counts a non-vote as a "no" vote.

But once again, it proves that Democrats are more interested in pleasing Big Labor--which represents 11.9 percent of the workforce--over other American workers.

Technorati tags: travel travel blog unions organized labor aviation transportation delta Harry Reid democrats Nevada