FAA To Cut Air Traffic At 40 Airports If Government Shutdown Continues 

The ongoing government shutdown became the longest ever on Wednesday. From federal workers going without pay to canceled SNAP benefits, the effects are already being felt by average Americans. The government shutdown has already resulted in airport delays, and it may get worse as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it will cut air traffic by 10% at 40 airports if the government doesn’t reopen by Friday. 

According to The New York Times, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cuts are intended to provide relief to air traffic controllers who have been working without pay. Flight delays have become increasingly common as the government shutdown has only exacerbated the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers. Should the FAA make the cuts to air traffic, thousands of flights are expected to be canceled. That means starting this weekend, hundreds of thousands of travelers will have their plans altered at the last minute. 

During a news conference on Wednesday, Duffy warned that in the coming weeks, “you will see mass chaos, you will see mass flight delays, you will see mass cancellations” should the government shutdown continue. Duffy has tried to have it both ways in his messaging. He’s acknowledged that air traffic has gone smoother than it has in past shutdowns, but it also warning of mass chaos due to Democrats triggering what he calls “a senseless shutdown.”

Air traffic played a significant role in the 2018-2019 government shutdown, which held the record as the longest in U.S. history until this week. That shutdown was over Trump demanding that funding for a border wall be added to a short-term spending bill. That shutdown happened from December through January, right at the heart of the holiday travel season. A lack of TSA agents and air traffic controllers resulted in significant flight delays, which ultimately brought the shutdown to an end without Trump getting the funding he was hoping for. As the holiday season is right around the corner, we could see a similar situation play out in the coming weeks. 

The government shutdown started at the beginning of October after Democrats refused to pass a short-term spending bill unless an extension was added to expiring, COVID-era subsidies for insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While the GOP controls both chambers of Congress, spending bills need to clear a 60-vote threshold in the Senate. As the Republicans only hold 53 seats in the Senate, Democrats have rare leverage to negotiate policy. 

Republicans have refused to negotiate an extension to the subsidies, only offering a potential vote on their extension after the government reopens. Considering the GOP’s historical distaste for the ACA, that vote will likely fail. A bipartisan group of rank-and-file senators has been negotiating a potential deal to end the shutdown that would focus on passing a long-term spending bill. Democrats are divided on this potential deal as it still doesn’t address the ACA subsidies at the heart of the shutdown. 

You know, I honestly thought after Tuesday’s elections resulted in Republicans getting mollywopped nationwide that they would come to their senses and extend the subsidies. The majority of the country already believes that Republicans bear responsibility for the government shutdown. Instead of trying to save face and lower health care costs, the Trump administration is exacerbating the impact of the shutdown at every turn. 

Democrats aren’t the ones telling grocery stores they can’t offer discounts to families who aren’t receiving their full SNAP benefits; that’s the Trump administration. Democrats aren’t the ones willing to let millions of their own voters go uninsured next year due to rising costs; that’s the Trump administration. Democrats aren’t the ones derailing people’s travel plans ahead of the holiday season; that’s the Trump administration. Heck, Democrats aren’t even the ones arguing that furloughed federal workers who’ve gone a month without pay aren’t entitled to back pay; that’s, you guessed it, the Trump administration.

Zohran Mamdani was only running for Mayor of New York, but his campaign captivated people nationwide due to his focus on affordability. You would think the GOP would see that and go, “You know, maybe driving up health care costs and denying food to the working poor isn’t the move.” Instead, they’ve spent this entire shutdown making life harder for our most vulnerable Americans and trying to blame it on the people whose only ask is that we don’t price millions of Americans out of health care. 

While the Republican state legislatures in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina have begun rare, mid-decade redistricting cycles to gerrymander their way to a midterm victory, they may very well be undercutting their own efforts by showing time and time again they don’t actually have the interests of the average American at heart. 

SEE ALSO:

Burbank Airport Faces Air Traffic Controller Shortage

Mike Johnson Says Government Shutdown Could Be Longest Ever