At least 639 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers are furloughed in Egg Harbor Township at the William J. Hughes Technical Center as Congressional authorization for several FAA programs expired at 12:01 a.m. on July 23. Nationwide, almost 4,000 FAA workers will have to take an un-paid leave from work because Congress can’t get their act together to re-authorize these programs. This marks the first time in American history that the FAA was shut down.

Because the authorization expired, the FAA will no longer be able to collect a tax on airline tickets which funds these programs. The agency will lose an estimated $30 million a day in taxes. A full list of these suspended programs include many airport improvement and construction projects. According to the Association of Flight Attendants, another 90,000 private sector workers could be laid off as these programs are halted. To make matters worse, most airlines are still charging the same rates for tickets and pocketing the $30 million a day for themselves. Delta, JetBlue, United, Continental and US Airways actually raised their ticket prices to make up for the missing tax.