Obama signs bill ending partial FAA shutdown
President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday temporarily restoring full funding to the Federal Aviation Administration, breaking a political impasse and allowing roughly 4,000 furloughed federal employees to return to work.
The measure also promises to restore tens of thousands of jobs in the construction industry and elsewhere tied to airport improvement projects put on hold as a result of the funding shortfall.
The bill took less than one minute to pass a nearly empty Senate chamber Friday morning. It was cleared with a legislative maneuver known as “unanimous consent,” which allows as few as two senators to approve a bill so long as no objections are filed. Most members of Congress are currently away from Washington on their summer recess.
The president hailed the agreement, noting that it removed “the uncertainty hanging over the jobs of thousands of hardworking FAA employees.”