Another Washington debacle. This time, fresh off the disastrous debt deal, Congress threatened to leave without reauthorizing funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. The AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the country and a big Femocratic donor (they have already spent 3 million dollars in lobbying this year) kicked and screamed, begging the two parties to stay to make the quick extension. They pretty much left anyway. According to Dave Levinthal of Politico, there was "not a whole lot of external lobbying" on the FAA issue, and that is perhaps the most depressing thing. The AFL-CIO and major liberal donors call for this to be done, with only mild corporate opposition, and it takes forever to get done. Levinthal also told me, "there hasn't been considerable outcry from Democrats". To be fair, some key Democrats such as Harry Reid and Jim Moran did criticize Republicans on the issue.

It all appears to revolve around Delta, who wants to keep their airlines non-union. This debacle had put thousands of people out of work for the time-being, and a few had to actually pay to go to work. The FAA has been through 20 short-term extensions since 2007.

On Thursday, Senator Reid announced that he and Republicans had come to a deal. A deal came, but it was 13 days after the shutdown, costing the government 30 million a day. The deal that passed included ending subsidies for small airports. This can be waved by the Transportation Secretary, so it might as well be a clean extension, a rare win for the workers.

Liberal donors, do have power, but it appears not as much as conservative ones. Whatever one's political views, the continuing influence of money on policy should be cause for concern.