About 6.6% of US flights were delayed on Thursday due to the absence of air traffic controllers, according to Reuters. That’s worse than the average, which sits at 5%. But the worst is about to develop, if history is anything to go by. Earlier, that number hit 53% in the previous government shutdown.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy held a press conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Friday to raise the alarm about the nation’s ports. Air traffic controllers, like many government employees, are currently unpaid because of the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.
PayChecks issued in the last 10 days cover about 90% of the air control center’s regular payroll, according to Duffy, because most of that time the work was done in September. But paychecks are slated for this coming day to be $0. And that means many sports administrators are likely to grow, something common seen during government shutdowns before workers were frustrated that they weren’t getting paid.
“As I’ve gone and talked to the regulators, there’s a lot of frustration,” Duffy said. “There is concern because any of you, you look at the expectations that the payment will come in and plan for that, and you pay your mortgage, you pay your car payment, you put food on the table.”
“As these managers come to work, they have to pay the moneylenders, the child care. There are all the debts of Americans that they expect to come in for that.”
Republicans control both the Senate and the House but need Democratic votes to reopen the government, and there is no end in sight to the shutdown. Democrats say they want Republicans to deal with the massive health care cuts that were put in place over the summer with So’s Good Bill. This bill, fired by President Donald Trump, was a big handout to the rich, introducing what is expected to be $114 billion in tax cuts for those making more than $1 million a year by 2027 alone.
During the press conference, Duffy repeated the lies that the Democrats tried to pay for the health care of “illegal immigrants.” Democrats are trying to get the money back for Medicaid, including 1.4 million – of the law immigrants do not lose their coverage. Health care coverage is set to become a major issue for millions of Americans as rates are set for next year. The Washington Post published a new article on Friday explaining that the average premiums are expected to rise by 30% in the next year if nothing is done, 17 million Americans will see their costs rise significantly. Employer-provided plans are also expected to rise.
Republicans have refused to negotiate a shutdown, instead promising that if Democrats just help open the government, they will deal with health care later. But it’s clearly not something Democrats will believe will actually happen, given the Trump administration’s track record of lying about every controversy, big and small.
The US already has a shortage of air traffic controllers, about 2,000 to 3,000, according to Duffy. And these kinds of distractions are not good for recruiting and retention. Usually people want to work in a place with some intensity, to say nothing of being paid for the work they do. Duffy once threatened to turn off about 10% of air traffic controllers when they called.
Duffy said that he doesn’t want air traffic controllers to get second jobs, like driving for Uber, but workers who live off the payroll, which is almost a requirement for a job in the federal government.
The Secretary of Transportation emphasized that he is not worried about security at the American airport because if things are not safe, they slow down. That is why delays occur when there are not enough traffic controllers.
“If we have controllers that are more stressed and more able to do the job, we pay more attention to that and we’ll reduce the amount of aircraft starting and we’ll get the planes out,” Duffy said. “And so you can and very well you can see a delay in the process, but it’s because the most important thing is that you get point A to point B and get there and end up there on time.”
But if the shutdown continues, and there’s no sign of it ending anytime soon, American travelers can expect major delays ahead.
