Nevada Democrat Estimates FAA Reauthorization Would Create 270,000 Jobs In Three Months

Senator Harry Reid may have overstated the effects of passing a long-term FAA reauthorization bill on jobs, according to the Washington Post Fact Checker column.

Reid reportedly claimed that passage of the long-term bill would create 270,000 jobs in three months, according to a report in the Las Vegas Sun. A Reid spokesman later said the Senator was talking about the amount of time it would take to get the bill passed and signed by the President.

But the numbers still don't add up, according to the Washington Post, which cites a letter from the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) asking for $1 billion in additional AIP funds. That, the letter said, would create some 35,000 "high paying" jobs.

Reid's spokesman said that he came up with the 270,000 number using simple math. Since the FAA bill checks in at $8 billion ... he just multiplied 35,000 by eight.

The AAAE drew its figures from a Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) estimate that says a $1 billion infrastructure investment, paired with a 20 percent local match, supports 35,000 jobs. But the FWHA indicates that only about a third of the total jobs supported are actually new full time jobs, and that "the estimated jobs figure should be used carefully." It has also revised its estimate to reflect lower overall highway spending, which decreased significantly if there is no local match.

While Reid was perhaps overreaching a bit, the other side of the aisle is not without its own "fuzzy math." A House Transportation Committee news release on a GOP version of the bill touted that it "creates and protects more than 600,000 U.S. jobs over four years, according to estimates." (emphasis ours)

But no matter how many jobs may or may not be created or sustained, it doesn't detract from the fact that a long-term FAA funding bill is long overdue.

FMI: http://reid.senate.gov, http://transportation.house.gov