Congressman John Mica, the Florida Republican who bears a major share of the responsibility for the FAA shutdown, has caught a lot of flack for his shenanigans. He has expressed surprise that the Democrats decided to play hardball. Did either side learn any lessons?
Dana Milbank’s column in the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
describes Congressman John Mica’s reaction to the blowback he has gotten in the wake of the FAA shutdown.
Mica tried to legislatively reverse a decision by the National Mediation Board that removed an impediment to union organization by airline workers. Delta Air Lines reportedly heavily lobbied Congress to take that action.
Expecting Democratic opposition, Mica drafted plans to cut funds for small airports in Nevada and West Virginia. He intended to use that provision as a sacrificial goat in House-Senate Conference Committee negotiations. He admitted as much.
Senate Democrats, citing Mica’s admission, declined to negotiate. The result was the shutdown. The Democrats then pilloried Mica and decided to use an end-around maneuver to reopen the FAA.
On Thursday, Democrats announced a plan to reopen the FAA and said they would use waivers from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to avoid Mica’s rural airport cuts. Mica, pronouncing himself thwarted, said he was stunned that Democrats took Republicans “by the short hairs,” as he put it. “Quite honestly we did not expect that.”
[….] “In our business, you use your legislative tools . . . and put a little leverage on it,” he said. “How else do I do it? Am I going to send them a bouquet?”
“People don’t have to get so personal,” he said with a sigh. “A lot of people hate me now and think I’m the worst thing in the world for what I did.” It’s “this sort of gotcha,” he said, “that’s changed the dynamics of people working more effectively together.”
Chickens come home to roost?
Democrats playing hardball? Whoodda thunk it?
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