Senator Bernie Sanders issued the following statement over the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

“It is reckless and extremely harmful for the House Republicans to play politics with our nation’s air safety.   While it is my understanding at this point that no FAA employees in Vermont will be furloughed and that no Vermont projects will be stopped, we simply cannot afford to stop work on hundreds of airport improvement projects across the country.  At a time when we are struggling with a prolonged economic downturn and record unemployment, Republican recalcitrance on this issue will cost us almost 70,000 decent-paying construction jobs. “