Senator holds up bill compensating furloughed Transportation workers

[The Straight Story]

Senator holds up bill compensating furloughed Transportation workers
By Alyssa Rosenberg [email protected] March 12, 2010

A Republican senator is holding up legislation that would prevent Transportation Department workers furloughed earlier this month from losing pay.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he is upset by the bill's funding mechanism.

"Time and time again, Congress intentionally waits until the last minute to consider important legislation and then declares the billions of dollars in foreseeable costs as emergency spending in order to avoid having to find a way to pay the bills' price tags," Coburn wrote in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., putting a hold on the bill.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., would make sure the nearly 2,000 Transportation workers who were furloughed for two days in early March when Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., blocked a 30-day extension of the Highway Trust Fund would be compensated for that time. An extension eventually passed, and the employees were able to return to their jobs.

The House approved Connolly's bill Wednesday in a 418-1 vote.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44791&oref=todaysnews