{"id":13340,"date":"2025-10-21T18:50:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13340"},"modified":"2025-10-21T18:50:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T10:50:56","slug":"flight-delays-cancellations-increase-shutdown-pressure-on-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13340","title":{"rendered":"Flight delays, cancellations increase shutdown pressure on lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alarm bells are going off for lawmakers after some of the nation\u2019s busiest airports experienced scores of delays over the weekend due to air traffic control staffing shortages as the government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air-traffic controllers are among the federal workers deemed essential, forcing them to continue on the job while not receiving paychecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers are closely watching the weekend\u2019s woes and increasing possibility of \u201csick-outs\u201d by controllers, well-aware that travel delays could be the issue that forces them to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt most certainly will not get better with age,\u201d said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). \u201cThe longer the shutdown goes on, the more people are going to be frustrated and we\u2019ve got people that are going without paychecks \u2014 they most certainly aren\u2019t going to get happier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to find more of them trying to find a way to express their frustration even though that they know that there are real implications to calling in sick and slowing things down,\u201d Rounds said. \u201cAnd I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAST WEATHER HIT 10\/20\/2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other parts of the federal workforce, air traffic controllers could have a say in ending the three-week long shutdown \u2014 but at a major cost. Travel delays are among the shutdown effects felt most directly by average Americans, and the absence of fewer than a dozen controllers helped force the government to reopen in 2019 as it prompted a ground stoppage of flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAir traffic controllers had a pretty powerful punch,\u201d Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of those actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday that there were \u201cincreased staffing shortages across the system\u201d the day prior, which caused delays at airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Newark, N.J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to FlightAware, there were 19,000 flights that were delayed between Saturday and Monday, with Sunday marking the high mark at nearly 8,000 delays. There were also 1,600 flight cancellations during that span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southwest Airlines saw more than 30 percent of its flights delayed on Sunday and Monday, with American Airlines seeing a similar figure on Sunday as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly something I\u2019m concerned about,\u201d said Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who represents Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which has its own issues this year without factoring in the shutdown. \u201cWe already have low staffing, so this is something I\u2019ve been worried about writ large. We see how devastating those disruptions can be on a number of fronts which is why I\u2019m frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged on Monday morning that more of these issues could be coming down the tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope we don\u2019t see more disruptions. But as this gets closer to payday, I think you could see more of that through the airspace,\u201d Duffy told Fox News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first sign of trouble since the start of the shutdown. More than 23,000 delays were reported between Oct. 6 and 10, many of which also stemmed from air traffic controller tumult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Duffy noted that 53 percent of delays were due to staffing issues, compared with five percent normally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin told reporters on Monday that he inquired with TSA workers at Chicago O\u2019Hare International Airport (ORD) while traveling back to Washington about issues in recent days. He said they reported a \u201cslowdown\u201d on Sunday, but that the airport was back to \u201cfull tilt\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were not the only issues the airport experienced in recent days. A pair of United Airlines planes clipped wings at O\u2019Hare on Friday while one of them was taxiing to a gate to deplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is expected to hold a vote this week on a bill to pay \u201cexcepted\u201d employees \u2014 those who are deemed essential during the shutdown. That also includes 1.3 million members of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thune told reporters that the vote will happen either Wednesday or Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal workers are also set to miss their first full paycheck on Friday, having received a partial one earlier in the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While lawmakers remain worried about a continued spate of delays and cancellations, there is something worse that they are praying can be avoided amid potential \u201csick-outs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there were \u2014 heaven forbid \u2014 some accident that might be associated with this problem, there\u2019d be hell to pay,\u201d Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told The Hill. \u201cThat\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alarm bells are going off for lawmakers after some of the nation\u2019s busiest airports experienced scores of delays over the weekend due to air traffic control staffing shortages as the government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week. 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