TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- The effects of a stalemate in Washington are already being felt here in Northern Michigan, stopping work on a multi-million dollar airport project.

Congress has failed to pass legislation for Federal Aviation Administration funding, and now, the plug is being pulled on dozens of airport infrastructure projects across the country.

Typically on a Monday, there'd be several people working on the Cherry Capital Airport’s new flight tower, but because of that funding issue, the work has been put on hold.

"Congress needs to act and take care of this and get a spending bill in place permanently to continue to fund this critical economic driver -- our aviation system," says Kevin Klein, the Cherry Capital Airport Director.

Klein says enough is enough.  The gates outside of the new $12-million airport tower project are sealed off, more than 200 contractors were told to stay home, 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed, and this infrastructure-improvement project is now collecting dust.

“If the FAA is not there to authorize the spending, our projects stop.  That’s the bottom line," explains Klein.

The House and the Senate haven't been able to agree on air service subsidies to rural communities or a Republican proposal that would make it tougher for airline employees to unionize. That’s why work is stopped. 

“Whether it's our runway extension or planning projects for the future, they will all be on hold, so it's all very concerning," says Klein.

Contractors were still on site at Pellston Regional Airport Monday, working on an $8-million federally funded snow removal equipment, aircraft rescue, and firefighting building.  Airport Manager Kelley Atkins doesn't see this project coming to a stop, at least for now.

“If this goes on, something's got to give at some point, you'd hope that Washington gets this figured out in short order," says Atkins.

For this project, the state signs the checks and then gets reimbursed federally, and Atkins says if there is a work stop order, work will stop.

“One of the biggest satisfactions I get out of a project is seeing the guys out there working, and you hate to see that stop for any reason," says Atkins.

The FAA says with the dead stop of projects like the one behind me, it could ultimately cost the taxpayer more money in the end.

The plug has been pulled on other state airports, including a $14-million tower project in Kalamazoo and a $2-million tower fire remediation project in Flint.

Right now, Lawmakers are still at odds over the budget, bickering about how much in cuts should be made and whether or not taxes should be raised.