Democrats are cheering the country into a travel meltdown. Flight cancellations and delays are piling up as the Schumer Shutdown drags on, and the longer Congress waits to fund operations, the more air travel will collapse.
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned airlines that it must reduce air traffic at major airports because of staffing shortages among controllers. Air traffic controllers and TSA agents are essential workers. They are required to work without pay during a shutdown. Many have already stopped showing up for shifts.
Reuters reported that flight delays caused by staffing problems have jumped from the normal five percent to more than fifty percent in recent days. Airlines are now being ordered to cut schedules by up to ten percent across forty major airports. One report said more than eight thousand flights were delayed on a single day last week as the shutdown dragged on. AP News reported that the FAA will keep reducing traffic volume to maintain safety.
Travelers are being stranded in terminals for hours. Airlines are warning that the disruptions could grow much worse as the holiday season approaches.
All of this is avoidable.
Clean Funding Bill Already Exists
The House passed a clean continuing resolution over a month ago. It funds the government temporarily with no strings attached. No unrelated policy add-ons. No new spending negotiations. It simply reopens the government and allows federal workers to be paid and federal services to resume.
Senate Democrats, seeking to punish the country and inflict ongoing pain, are refusing to vote on that clean bill. Democratic leadership is attempting to attach unrelated policy demands to the funding measure, which prevents the government from reopening.
The funding bill is ready. The votes exist. The shutdown continues only because Senate Democrats will not take up the clean resolution.
Airlines And Airports Are Sounding Alarms
Major travel and aviation groups are begging Congress to reopen the government immediately. They warn that safety margins are shrinking. Fewer controllers means fewer flights. Less redundancy. Fewer options when storms hit or runways back up.
Reuters quoted an airline executive saying airlines are already reworking schedules because the federal government has ordered cuts. The FAA has stated openly that it is reducing traffic to avoid endangering passengers.
When the people responsible for air safety say they can no longer staff the system, it is not a political warning. It is a safety warning.
Democrats Acknowledge The Pain And Refuse To Move
Democratic Senate leadership has said they are willing to endure the shutdown. One senior Democrat dismissed complaints and said Republicans would have to give in, adding that they are “not budging.” The message is clear: the suffering is acceptable leverage.
Meanwhile, Americans are stuck. Air traffic is crippled. Federal workers are without paychecks. The shutdown is not theoretical anymore. You can now feel it in every major airport terminal. Democrats have decided that inflicting pain on Americans is acceptable if they can’t win on policy.
The Choice Is Simple
Pass the funding bill. Pay federal workers. Let the FAA restore staffing and reopen full traffic levels.
This is not complicated. A clean resolution is already on the table. The damage grows every day that it is ignored. Democrats have a choice: reopen the government or continue punishing the country for political leverage.
The longer they wait, the more Americans will pay the price, and the more Democrats will high-five over it.