Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Eliminate Air Traffic Controller Furloughs

...and the House is expected to pass the bill today.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/us-usa-aviation-delays-congress-idUSBRE93O0S620130426

The fix of allowing funds to move between accounts in the government was offered months ago, but WH turned it down. Glad to see some agreement on this fix.

Well the POTUS wanted to inflict as much pain as possible with flight delays, eliminating White House tours and air shows. They couldn't come up with $200million somewhere else for these air traffic controllers? While the FLOTUS has a budget of $1.6million and as taxpayers we pay for every damn vacation they go on? Recently read that the First Family is more costly than the British monarchy.

Actually Congress passed the sequester. It's up to them to fix it.

Congress agreed to the sequester which was the Presidents idea in the first place!

It was a last-minute deal after one party threatened to renege on the public debt. It's still bad policy and should be repealed.

POTUS has control over the debt payments via the US Treasury so there would not have been any reneging on debt if the funds were properly managed.

It was POTUS' idea for sequester and he was given flexibility earlier this year. 2% reduction in a budget should not even be noticed by most people. Let's get real here! There needs to be leadership on both sides but it starts with the POTUS.

Actually the President has shown a lot of leadership, but has been obstructed at every step by the opposition party.

Really wish this didn't get into a pi$$ing match between political parties. Thread will probably be pulled if it goes much further.

Just read on CBS News that the 'House' also passed the bill and it just has to go to the Pres to be signed.

Good news... But, how it this going to make the Customs Agents, TSA, Food Inspectors etc feel?? Bad situation all around.

In my mind, it's an epic fail that results from poor and lacking leadership in the WH, Senate, and House as well as both parties.

As a contrast, Reagan and Clinton accomplished a lot (whether you agree with the results or not)...and they both had opposition parties on Capitol Hill.

Really wish this didn't get into a pi$$ing match between political parties. Thread will probably be pulled if it goes much further.

But it does entertain me to see that this was unanimous. After all, these politicians need to get home from DC, don't they? And when a problem directly affects the politicians personally, that increases the chances that it'll get fixed quickly!

Interesting the use of the word unanimous. Another article says the Senate vote was 75-20, and the House vote had 41 against. The procedural vote to bring it to the floor quickly without any debate might have been unanimous- and that was probably driven by the impending vacation.

I agree. I don't know anything about the politics behind this, so I can't say anything about it.

 

But it does entertain me to see that this was unanimous. After all, these politicians need to get home from DC, don't they? And when a problem directly affects the politicians personally, that increases the chances that it'll get fixed quickly!

This is exactly what has been reported thru several new medias....the delays were affecting the politicians.....now we can't have them inconvenienced:eek::eek:

Interesting the use of the word unanimous. Another article says the Senate vote was 75-20, and the House vote had 41 against. The procedural vote to bring it to the floor quickly without any debate might have been unanimous- and that was probably driven by the impending vacation.

Press reports I've read said that there wasn't even a roll call in the Senate...the bill was approved by unanimous consent.

The House hadn't even voted on the bill when I started this thread, and obviously the article published Thursday to which I provided the link didn't say the House vote (which wouldn't occur until the next day) was unanimous.

Glad they got this done!

Glad they got this done!

In a odd way, this is bad news in the long run. This sets a precedent that manufacturing maximum pain and inconvenience to taxpayers (and congresspeople) is the recipe to get exempted from the sequester.

In a odd way, this is bad news in the long run. This sets a precedent that manufacturing maximum pain and inconvenience to taxpayers (and congresspeople) is the recipe to get exempted from the sequester.

Meanwhile services like Head Start and Meals on Wheels suffer.

Link to news reports confirming this?

Meanwhile services like Head Start and Meals on Wheels suffer.

Studies have demonstrated that Head Start students by the third grade do no better than students not participating in HS.

It is time to save the country from bankruptcy and the collapse of the dollar.

Link to news reports confirming this?

A simple google search will turn up a lot of articles. But here are a couple:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/04/head-start-sequester_n_3016488.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/sequestration-cuts-meals-on-wheels_n_2767440.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=9079822

And it was just announced that some big mucky muck PR firm in Washington DC was very recently awarded by HHS an $8-10 million dollar contract to promote Obamacare while politicians and their staffs are asking for exemptions. Isn't meals on wheels an HHS program??? Couldn't the money be better spent on FOOD? What irony.

Good news... But, how it this going to make the Customs Agents, TSA, Food Inspectors etc feel?? Bad situation all around.

The major produce buyers on the East Coast just cut buying from Mexico on asparagus and red/yellow/orange peppers yesterday. Can't get the stuff across the border fast enough and they were sick of the "old" produce. The asparagus deal from Mexico is DONE. They were dumping asparagus into the landfill in Nogales Mex yesterday.

So now the Mexican farms will be plowing under what is left of their crops. Asparagus from Mexico usually ends about May 15-20, but the colorful peppers generally continue until about June 10. So that is a lot of money and produce lost in Mexico which makes people poorer and more apt to cross our borders looking for money to support their families.

AND it puts a lot of Americans out of work in Nogales AZ because "field change" (when produce moves from the South to the North growing areas or reverse) is not complete yet. For the next month, those guys who work for the packers shipping produce will be out of work because there isn't enough produce in other areas of AZ/CA to need them yet.

Prices will go up because the US asparagus and color peppers are not in full production yet.

The major produce buyers on the East Coast just cut buying from Mexico on asparagus and red/yellow/orange peppers yesterday.

That's interesting... we have an abundance of products now from Mexico and SA - with really great prices. I don't know how it gets here, but thinking direct, thus bypassing US inspection?? The shelves are literally stuffed!! Quality seems normal.

That's interesting... we have an abundance of products now from Mexico and SA - with really great prices. I don't know how it gets here, but thinking direct, thus bypassing US inspection?? The shelves are literally stuffed!! Quality seems normal.

Your Mexican produce comes primarily from the McAllen/Pharr Texas region (cross at Brownsville/Matamoras). And your SA produce comes into the port in Philly usually (that is what I go to South America for-to make sure the fruit I am contracted for gets moved at the proper time with the proper paperwork).

You are seeing stuffed shelves BECAUSE of the slowdown crossing the border. They are bringing AS MUCH as they can up (and hence the cheap prices) before they have a meltdown like Nogales. Otay Mesa (San Diego) which supplies the West Coast East to about Colorado has slowed about 25%. About 55% of the total produce crop from Mexico crossing the border comes through Nogales. 65-70% of the tomatoes we eat come through Nogales. Greenhouse grown tomatoes has become BIG business in Mexico.

Nogales supplies a large portion of the East Coast food distributors-grocery store chains, Hunt's Point in NYC and the Chelsea market in Boston as well as lessor markets in Hartford, Providence and Brooklyn. So when the slowdown with the border crossing happened, it really, really hurt both Mexico and the US. Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja Norte (all basically straight south of Arizona or on the West coast of Mexico) are the major produce producing regions in Mexico.

It is just now becoming fresh shrimp season in Mexico. Hermosillo and Guaymas are starting their shipping season. Some shrimp is truly fresh and cannot wait at the border very long. I have been told the Mexican shippers are going to send a larger portion this year frozen in 50 pound blocks just because of the border problems. So we will all be eating more frozen shrimp than in years past if the problems continue.

greatam..... Thanks for the insight.

I know this thread has gone OT somewhat from the original post, but am happy it has not gotten political (as other threads have). Thanks to the mods as well for not pulling it - I've personally learned a lot.

You are seeing stuffed shelves BECAUSE of the slowdown crossing the border. They are bringing AS MUCH as they can up (and hence the cheap prices) before they have a meltdown like Nogales. Otay Mesa (San Diego) which supplies the West Coast East to about Colorado has slowed about 25%. About 55% of the total produce crop from Mexico crossing the border comes through Nogales. 65-70% of the tomatoes we eat come through Nogales. Greenhouse grown tomatoes has become BIG business in Mexico.

Thanks for the explanation. At my local supermarket (part of Safeway) here in SoCal, red/orange/yellow peppers from Mexico were $1 each, which is 25 to 50 cents lower than usual. Tomatoes were on sale too.