I won’t be blogging about the politics of the partial shutdown of FAA, whose fault it is, or what I really think about it. However, I will blog about an interesting angle on the whole thing that occurred to me today.
Now that the debt ceiling fecal fling has passed, the world has suddenly discovered some 74,000 or so people have been forced out of work because Congress did not pass an extension to FAA’s authorization due to a cute little urinary prowess marathon. I don’t think either party came out of the debt ceiling debate looking all that fabulous, and then they recessed without sending an extension to the President to sign. So 2 weeks after the expiration of the last extension, FAA and the US Treasury continue to miss out on about $30 million a day in tax revenue, thousands are out of a job, and the world thinks Congress is on vacation.
I took a look at Twitter today with a search for the #FAA hashtag, and the difference in the FAA shutdown from the past few days is nothing short of stunning. That coupled with new interest by traditional media is generating traction. Will social media buzz play a role in forcing Congress to fix the FAA extension issue? Sure will be interesting to watch.
