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Dems Will Cause This Vital System to Collapse If They Don’t End Schumer Shutdown

By Updated: NEWS COMMENTARY

The proverbial you-know-what is about to hit the fan in America’s skies, warns Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Put another way, Senate Democrats have been dragging out the Schumer Shutdown for so long that air travelers are about to feel the painful fallout of their endless dithering. The longer this political standoff continues, the worse the turbulence will get — and it’s ordinary Americans who’ll be stuck waiting at the gate.

At a Tuesday press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy didn’t mince words as he laid out the devastating impact of the ongoing government shutdown — now on day 35 — on the nation’s air traffic system. Duffy warned that, thanks to the Democrat Party’s refusal to fund the government, “mass chaos” is about to hit America’s skies.

Specifically, Duffy warned that parts of the country could soon see their airspace completely shut down — not because of weather or mechanical failures, but because there simply aren’t enough air traffic controllers left on duty. Many are about to miss their second paycheck this week, and morale is collapsing:

DUFFY: The controllers got 80 or 90 percent of one payment. They missed the second paycheck. On Thursday, they get an email pay stub that will show what they’re next payment will be. So, this Thursday, they’ll get an email that shows that their pay stub is a big, fat zero.

Many of the [air traffic] controllers said, “A lot of us can navigate missing one paycheck. Not everybody, but a lot of us can. None of us can manage missing two paychecks.”

So, if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos, you will see mass flight delays.

You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.

 
Washington, Secretary Sean Duffy was joined by both of Pennsylvania’s senators — Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat John Fetterman. Fetterman is one of only three Democrats to side with Republicans in voting to reopen the government. Meanwhile, forty of his Democratic colleagues have voted fourteen times against funding the federal government at current levels through November 21.

Duffy laid out the grim numbers: an estimated 13,000 air traffic controllers are currently working without pay, forcing roughly half of the nation’s major air traffic control facilities to operate under critical staffing shortages. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the situation is particularly dire in the New York area, where nearly 80 percent of controllers are absent.

At her Tuesday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Secretary Duffy’s dire warning that America’s skies are on the verge of becoming dangerously unfriendly. She pointed to mounting evidence that the Schumer Shutdown is taking a real toll on everyday Americans — noting that passengers at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport are now facing security lines stretching up to three hours long.

Duffy has been warning for weeks that America’s air system can’t operate safely or efficiently without proper funding. This week, he was joined by Vice President J.D. Vance in urging Democrats to stop the political theater and get serious about reopening the government.

“The House of Representatives has voted affirmatively to reopen the United States government,” Vance said. “Fifty-two Republicans and three Democrats consistently vote to reopen the United States government. But we need 60 votes.”

“We need to end the craziness,” the vice president concluded.

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