New day, new crisis, new press conference of Democrat Congressional leaders calling Republicans 'hostage-takers'.

This time is over the Senate's inability to pass legislation extending the funding of the FAA. The fall-out is considerable. 4,000 employees furloughed and hundreds of construction projects in limbo. 30 million a day in ticket taxes going uncollected.

As the attached video attests to, Democrats are complaining that Republicans are extracting compromise by manufacturing crisis--a tactic the Democrats are quite familiar with. Wasn't I just listening to Barack Obama saying the social security checks wouldn't go out today if there wasn't a deal on the debt ceiling?

The irony here is that the there hasn't been long-term FAA funding since 2007, a year after Democrats took control of Congress. I don't know why this is the case, or why Democrats didn't pass a budget in 2010, but I'm sure they have their nefarious reasons.

So what are the Republicans asking for that is making the Democrats dig in their heels so hard and yell 'foul' at the top of their lungs?

"If we're having this fight over $16 million in subsidies, how are they going to get trillions (of dollars in cuts) from government? It's not a good start," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This may be emblematic of what we face getting any cuts."

Democrats are holding up funding for a measly 16 million bucks?

One of those issues is the air service program, which was created after airlines were deregulated in 1978. It pays airlines to fly less profitable routes to remote communities. The entire program costs about $200 million a year, about the same as what the government is losing each week the FAA shutdown continues. Critics say some of the communities don't deserve aid because they are within a reasonable drive of a hub airport or because their subsidies are exorbitantly high — more than $1,000 per passenger.

Well, that just doesn't sound right; there must be more to it:

The more politically difficult issue is a GOP proposal to overturn a National Mediation Board rule approved last year that allows airline and railroad employees to form a union by a simple majority of those voting. Under the old rule, workers who didn't vote were treated as "no" votes.

Democrats and union officials say the change puts airline and railroad elections under the same democratic rules required for unionizing all other companies. But Republicans say the new rule reverses 75 years of precedent to favor labor unions.

Ah! That makes a lot more sense. Democrats, unable to get the infamous 'card check' through the front door, have been trying to do it through the back door. For those unfamiliar with 'card check' it refers to the method by which votes are counted to decide whether a workplace will be unionized or not. Unions, unable to intimidate workers under the old system, have pushed hard and thrown a lot of money at Democrat elected officials to tilt the table in their favor. Take the abstentions out of the picture entirely and then break the knee-caps of the 'no' voters.

Reversing the decline of union-membership and with it the fortunes of the Democrat party, are the real reason Reid, Schumer etal are willing to send FAA employees on extended, unpaid vacations. It's all for the good of the party---er-r-r, I mean 'country'.

Last month, in comments to the House Rules Committee and separately to reporters, Mica said the labor provision was the only issue standing in the way of the House and Senate reaching an agreement on a long-term FAA bill. He said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has refused to negotiate with Republicans on the issue.

It seems to me that Republicans have the whip hand here. You should 'compromise' Harry. No one wants to be thought of as an 'obstructionist'.