In early 2019, the longest shutdown in U.S. history ended after air traffic controllers — who had been working for 35 days without pay — called in sick and brought flights to a halt at several major airports.
In a matter of hours, President Donald Trump agreed to a temporary funding measure.
Air traffic controllers are looking at the current shutdown and wondering whether they could play a similar role this time.
Just this week, airports such as Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport saw ground stops and delays due to staffing shortages. On Thursday, as senators left Washington, D.C., for their home states, Reagan National Airport had delays for the same reason, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, or the FAA.
Among the lawmakers who were delayed were the two top GOP senators: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
Asked about the delays, Barrasso told reporters he didn’t worry about his flight. “I worry about the flights of thousands and thousands of people,” he said.
“We need to make sure that the flying public is protected, and we need to make sure that the best way to do that is to pay these folks and open the government,” he added.
Whether flight delays can actually solve this shutdown remains to be seen. Both sides have steadfastly stuck to their positions this time — Democrats say Congress needs to address expiring Obamacare subsidies, and Republicans say they won’t negotiate on Obamacare until the government is reopened — so some airport inconveniences might not do the trick.
Senators who spoke to MSNBC acknowledged that air traffic controllers calling in sick could be a major problem. But they also said that was just one of the pain points of this shutdown.
Asked whether air traffic controller shortages could potentially end the shutdown, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., suggested that the coming food benefits lapse — both with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the special benefits for low-income pregnant women, infants and children — might be a more pressing issue, though Rounds emphasized unpaid air traffic controllers are a problem.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also acknowledged the “burden” air traffic controllers and other essential federal workers face without pay. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told reporters he fears air traffic controllers might leave their profession and never come back.
“We’re messing with people’s lives,” Moreno said. “There’s air traffic controllers that are having to make decisions that they didn’t think they’d have to make.”
But at the moment, flight problems aren’t moving either party off their position. All that the delays are doing, in fact, is giving either side more ammunition to blame the other side.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called out the unpaid air traffic controllers and said the solution was to reopen government or for lawmakers to vote for a bill that pays essential workers.
“Really simple solutions,” Duffy said.
Democrats, for their part, say the solution is for Republicans to negotiate.
“The president can end this,” Markey said. “The Republicans can end it with one vote. They just have to come back to the table, sit down, negotiate with the Democrats over the health care subsidies, over the food programs for the poorest in that nation.”
“If he does that, then air traffic controllers, the military, all other federal employees can then go back to work and get their paychecks,” Markey said.
On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was asked if he felt any concerns over his own safety during travel.
“I’m very confident in the ability of hardworking air traffic controllers, TSA agents and others, who are continuing to do their job with the highest degree of professionalism, “ Jeffries said.
Even before the government shutdown on Oct. 1, air traffic controllers were already stretched thin. On any given day, the FAA operates with 3,800 air traffic controllers fewer than needed, according to Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
But missed paychecks are bringing these professionals who keep the air safe to their breaking point, with some air traffic controllers taking on other jobs to make ends meet.
“We’re putting our air traffic controllers in a horrible position,” Daniels said this week. “We’re putting our flying public in a horrible position every day that this shutdown drags on.”
On average, 5% of flight delays are caused by air traffic controller shortages. On Sunday, that number jumped to 44%.
“How do you want me to deal with my kids? That’s what we’re going to start seeing, I can’t pay for the childcare. I can’t pay for gas in my car,” Daniels said.
Pete Lefevre, an air traffic controller, told MSNBC that financial stressors are starting to “leak” into the heads of controllers, creating potential distractions.
“People are worried,” Lefevre said. “There’s many folks that are paycheck to paycheck. Now bills are coming in. We don’t know when we are going to be paid next, how long this shutdown is going to go on for.”
While short flight delays may not be changing the calculus on Capitol Hill — at least not yet — longer delays or, more chillingly, a plane crash, could eventually force lawmakers to make concessions about the shutdown.
But as Daniels said, air traffic controllers don’t start or end shutdowns. “Only our elected officials can do that,” he said.
