AUSTIN (KXAN) — On the 28th day of the federal government shutdown, air traffic controllers have now missed their first full paycheck. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that it could lead to more staffing shortages and flight delays.
Duffy met with media outlets at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to discuss the impact of the shutdown on airports nationwide. He said training and recruiting air traffic controllers is also being impacted.
“The problem we’re now seeing is we have, we have young people in the academy that they actually get a stipend. We pay them a small amount of money so they can go to school and they can make ends meet. That money is about to run out and we’re seeing several of our students drop out of the academy,” Duffy said.
Those same staffing shortages have already caused ground delays in Austin as recently as Monday.
“All of these workers deserve to be paid for their essential work. To get workers paid and to end this shutdown, Trump must get personally involved to have his followers sit down and achieve a bipartisan resolution of the health care crisis they have created. With my GOP colleagues having yielded all of their power to Trump, only Trump can end the Trump shutdown,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said.
Duffy said even if the government were to reopen now, the effects on the airline industry could be felt for months.
The government shutdown began October 1.
Credit: Source link
