Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff highlights how Floridians are trying to clean up their state.

Before Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) heads back to Washington, D.C., next week, Floridians across the state sent him a clear message today at his five office locations:  Don’t flush the rights of working families and good-paying jobs down the toilet by delaying a long-term FAA reauthorization.

The BlueGreen Alliance says that reauthorizing the fully funded Surface Transportation bill that President Obama today urged Congress to extend is “an incredibly important step in achieving our number one national priority: putting America to work.”

If a funding agreement isn’t reached by Sept. 16, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) faces another shutdown like the one Republicans forced in July. That shutdown cost 4,000 FAA workers and 70,000 construction workers two weeks’ pay, halted important airport safety improvements and cost taxpayers some $400 million. It ended Aug. 5 with a temporary FAA reauthorization.

The Republican shutdown for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is over—for now—and the 4,000 furloughed FAA workers will return to work Monday and 70,000 construction workers should be back on the job soon now that airport improvement funds will flow again.

The Republican shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has thrown 4,000 FAA employees out of work, and some 70,000 construction workers employed on airport improvement projects can’t go to work because Republicans have blocked funding for the agency and the projects.

The 4,000 furloughed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers and 90,000 workers on airport construction projects stalled by the Republican shutdown of the FAA are worrying about how they will pay their bills in the coming weeks.

House Republicans would rather shut down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and put the flying public at risk than allow aviation and rail workers a simple majority vote—the same process that applies to electing lawmakers—on whether to join a union.

In an astounding display of economic shortsightedness, House Republicans want to cut transportation and transit infrastructure funding so deeply that it would cost half a million jobs next year alone and send the nation’s highways, bridges and transit systems into even deeper disrepair.

Ever since the Reagan administration, conservative Republicans have been trying to rip apart the nation’s passenger rail system, Amtrak, and sell its assets to Wall Street. The latest effort, led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), would privatize Amtrak’s most profitable Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., and sell the rest of the system  to the highest bidder.

If House Republicans prevail and their move to overturn fair and democratic election rules for air and rail workers remains in the final version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill (H.R. 658), the White House warned yesterday that President Obama would veto the bill.