A Georgia-based employee of the Federal Aviation Administration blasted congressional Republicans this afternoon for skipping town after voting to raise the debt ceiling without coming to an agreement to re-authorize the FAA. The agency’s resulting shutdown, now in its 11th day, left 74,000 FAA employees and affiliated construction workers without work, is costing taxpayers $200 million a week, and will likely last at least another month until Congress reconvenes in September.

The impasse resulted from House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica’s (R-FL) decision to insert an anti-union measure into the re-authorization package. The measure would make it harder for workers to form a union by counting workers who don’t vote in union elections as “No” votes, a practice Democrats have long fought to prevent.

FAA engineer Neil Bolen, who is also the vice president of his union, blasted the GOP for being “totally unaware” of the workers’ struggles and for the absurdity of the anti-union measure:

BOLEN: It’s incredibly frustrating. The whole concept that they’re saying, ‘Oh, this um, railroad act of how to vote in unions —

HOST: Right, the sticking point comes down to language over airline unionization rules.

BOLEN: That doesn’t pass the weasel test. They’re saying if you don’t vote, then it counts as a no. [...] That’s just silly. And the worst part is so many of these congressmen are not working for their constituents. A number of the airline employees live in [Rep.] Lynn Westmoreland’s [R-GA] district, here in Atlanta. And he’s not looking out for his constituents, which are the airline employees.

HOST: I mean, if you look at the situation, you have thousands of people out of work, important construction projects on hold — very important projects — and then you have Congress on vacation. [...]

BOLEN: I’m having a great time on my vacation. Without pay by the way. I’m not on a congressional junket. I’m sitting at the house watching the grass grow. So no, I’m not terribly pleased with what they’ve managed to accomplish.

Watch it:

President Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood have repeatedly called on Congress to re-authorize the agency, and Obama today signaled that an agreement may come by the end of the week. While Bolen would surely welcome that, he’s frustrated that Congress left town in the first place. “The debt ceiling argument ended Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “Well, where you at on Wednesday? You don’t have to go on vacation. Take another day. Get it finished. ‘Cause you’re sitting around, gnashing a great amount, about cutting a few billion here over 10 years. But you’re losing 1.2 [billion] this month. How do you figure that, folks?”

Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the debt ceiling deal that will cut trillions from the federal budget over the coming decade. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the cuts included in the bill, as well as the expiration of a payroll tax holiday at the end of the this year and the failure of Congress to extend unemployment benefits, will cost the economy about 1.8 million jobs next year.

But that’s not the end of the damage fiscal policy will have on the already weak economy. According to an analysis by JP Morgan Chase, contracting fiscal policy — a combination of the stimulus ending, the debt ceiling deal, the payroll tax cut expiring, and aid to states slowing down — will cost the U.S. 1.7 points of GDP growth next year:

This drag may appear fairly small, but it is on top of the substantial tightening that was already in place prior to the passage of the debt deal. Most of that fiscal tightening comes about through the automatic expiration of temporary stimulus measures. The table below details those measures, the largest of which is the one-year 2%-point payroll tax holiday, which expires next January. Other large programs that are scheduled to expire or phase out are emergency unemployment benefits, accelerated depreciation, increased transfers to the states, and much of the remaining spending associated with the 2009 Recovery Act. All in all, by our estimates federal fiscal policy will subtract around 1-3/4%-points from GDP growth next year. Given that GDP growth has been 1.6% over the past four quarters when fiscal policy has been much less of a drag, this doesn’t bode well for next year.

With unemployment still above 9 percent and long-term unemployment still horrifyingly high, growth coming in below one percent is unacceptable. But with Republicans controlling the purse strings in the House, the government will be actively holding back growth, even as America struggles to shake off the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

Click here to sign our open letter demanding that Democratic members of the super committee formed by the debt ceiling deal fight for jobs and revenue.