Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie.

Here’s a New York Times report about the failure of the Congress to extend the bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration afloat, which, in turn, is hitting air travelers hard in the pocket. But one particular line in the story caught my eye.

“So as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the federal government began losing an estimated $25 million a day in tax revenue,” notes reporter Joe Sharkey.

Yeah, $25 million is hardly a drop in the bucket of the massive federal budget. But, just to put things in perspective: unless the Congress puts a reauthorization bill into effect by August 4, the federal government will have missed out on collecting an amount of revenue which would have completely erased the District’s 2012 budget deficit — with three million bucks to spare.

Keep up the great work, Congress!