US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN SPARKS AIRPORT CHAOS WARNINGS AHEAD OF HOLIDAYS
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
The Trump administration has warned that the ongoing US government shutdown could cause major disruptions at airports nationwide, threatening to derail holiday travel plans for millions of Americans as the impasse drags into November.
Now in its fourth week, the shutdown triggered by a bitter standoff in Congress over health care spending has crippled public services, leaving 1.4 million federal workers without pay, including more than 60,000 air traffic controllers and TSA officers.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said absenteeism among airport workers was rising sharply, warning of looming “significant flight delays, disruptions, and cancellations” if Democrats continued to block government funding.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said staffing shortages were responsible for over 50 percent of flight delays, a massive increase from the usual five percent, with some workers resorting to second jobs to make ends meet.
“The longer the shutdown goes on, and as fewer air traffic controllers show up to work, the safety of the American people is thrown further into jeopardy,” Johnson said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed the concern, noting that many air traffic controllers were “having to make decisions about how they spend their time, to make sure they put food on their table.”
The crisis has also begun to affect lawmakers, many of whom struggle to fly home from Washington on weekends. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had already been hampered by control tower staffing issues.
Efforts in Congress to break the deadlock have failed repeatedly. The Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican-backed bill that would have guaranteed pay for troops and certain federal employees working without compensation.
Democrats argued the measure gave Trump too much control over pay disbursement while doing nothing for the 750,000 furloughed workers currently on unpaid leave.
They insist that the only path to reopening the government is for Trump to negotiate over restoring health insurance subsidies the central sticking point in the standoff.
However, Trump has refused to engage until Democrats agree to end the shutdown, raising fears of another record-breaking government closure reminiscent of the 35-day shutdown in 2019.
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