Washington (AFP) – US officials said the scheduled capacity for flights was being cut by 10 percent in 40 busy air traffic areas nationwide on Friday, as the longest government shutdown drags on. Federal agencies have been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30, with some 1.4 million federal workers, from air traffic controllers to park wardens, still on enforced leave or working without pay.
“There is going to be a 10 percent reduction in capacity at 40 of our locations,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told a White House news briefing on Wednesday, adding they would come into effect on Friday. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Bryan Bedford said the cuts would be at “40 high traffic environment markets.” According to a proposed list provided to CBS News, some of the nation’s busiest airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City could be among those hit.
AFP contacted the Department of Transport and FAA seeking details about which airports would be affected. The government shutdown became the longest in history on Wednesday, eclipsing the 35-day record set during President Donald Trump’s first term. Airport workers calling in sick rather than working without pay — which led to significant delays — was a major factor in Trump bringing an end to that 2019 shutdown.
More than 60,000 air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are now working without pay, and the White House has warned that increased absenteeism could create chaos at check-in lines. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in late October that five percent of flight delays had been the result of staffing shortages but that number had now increased to more than 50 percent. He warned at the time that 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.”
However, Democrats and Republicans have both remained unwavering over the main sticking point in the shutdown: health care spending. Democrats say they will only provide votes to end the funding lapse after a deal has been struck to extend expiring insurance subsidies that make health care affordable for millions of Americans. But Republicans insist they will only address health care once Democrats have voted to switch the lights back on in Washington.
Trump has sought to apply his own pressure to force Democrats to cave by threatening mass layoffs of federal workers and using the shutdown to target progressive priorities. He repeated on Tuesday his administration’s threat to cut off a vital aid program that helps 42 million Americans pay for groceries for the first time in its more than 60-year history, even though the move was blocked by two courts. The White House later clarified that it was “fully complying” with its legal obligations and was working to get partial Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments “out the door as much as we can and as quickly as we can.”
© 2024 AFP
