Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that his agency is working to ensure flights are safe but conceded that shortages of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown do add some risk.
The government has been shut down for more than a month now, and as a result, there have been shortages of air traffic controllers at some of the country’s busiest airports. Duffy addressed concerns about safety during a Sunday morning appearance on CBS.
SEAN DUFFY TURNS AIRPORTS INTO HIS BULLY PULPIT AS SHUTDOWN ENSARES TRAVEL
“We work overtime to make sure the system is safe, and we will slow traffic down,” Duffy said. “You’ll see delays. We’ll have flights canceled to make sure the system is safe. But we have to be honest, when we have controllers, where we have shortages in towers and [terminal radar approach control facilities], doing two jobs, does it add more risk into the system? Sure it does.”
“Again, we don’t want crashes — we want people to go safely, and so we will slow and stop traffic if we don’t think we can manage it in a way that keeps people safe as they go from point A to point B,” Duffy added.
It now day 33 of the government shutdown, which is just two days off from being the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands of government workers have been furloughed or are working without pay, and as the situation drags on, the more the impacts will be felt.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a Friday statement that a surge in callouts has led to “widespread impacts” across the National Airspace System and that a large number of the country’s biggest 30 airports are being affected.
“Currently, half of our Core 30 facilities are experiencing staffing shortages, and nearly 80 percent of air traffic controllers are absent at New York-area facilities,” the statement read. “After 31 days without pay, air traffic controllers are under immense stress and fatigue.”
Notably, the longest government shutdown, which ended in 2019, came to an end in part as a result of air traffic controllers calling in sick and snarling air travel. If the situation with air traffic controllers this time around continues to worsen, it could put more pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government.
The GOP-controlled House already passed a “clean” continuing resolution to reopen the government, but the Senate also needs to approve the measure.
But while the House can pass a CR with a simple majority vote, the Senate needs a 60-vote majority of lawmakers to reopen the government. Democrats are demanding the reinstatement of expiring Obamacare subsidies and trying to use the opportunity as leverage to get concessions from the GOP on the matter.
Some Democrats have broken ranks and joined Republicans in voting for the clean CR, but not enough to breach the filibuster threshold.
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One such Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), said on Sunday that Democrats need to “own” the government shutdown. He said it is “deeply distressing” that 42 million people are losing food stamp benefits because of the impasse.
“And now that’s one of the big reasons why I refuse to shutting our government down,” he said. “And again, I feel like the Democrats really need to own the shutdown. I mean, we’re shutting it down.”
