An effort to find executive branch money for the aviation system’s frontline safety workers appears to have run aground.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested Tuesday that a Trump administration effort to scrounge together money to pay air traffic controllers during the federal shutdown is dead.
During a news conference at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Duffy said he had examined the FAA’s budget to see if he could find any available funds, but “there’s not a lot of leeway that we have to get people paid.”
“The answer is open up the government,” he said, or that Senate Democrats vote for legislation that would ensure essential workers get their paychecks during the lapse in appropriations.
A bill to do that from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), S. 3012, failed in a procedural vote last week.
“Really simple solutions,” Duffy said.
Context: POLITICO on Oct. 10 reported that the Trump administration was exploring ways to pay controllers amid the shutdown, though it was unclear what pot of money officials could tap to support the workforce. It costs more than $500 million per month to pay controllers, a congressional aide familiar with DOT’s operations said at the time.
Controllers have a unique amount of leverage in the ongoing stalemate. If even just a few were to inappropriately call out sick at a large FAA facility, for example, flight delays could quickly mount and up the pressure on lawmakers to cut a deal.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels, who also spoke at the news conference, told reporters there will be no coordinated, official labor action to not work.
“It is illegal,” Daniels said.
Duffy added that he had asked controllers to show up and, so far, “I think … we’re seeing less problems in the airspace today than we have in prior shutdowns.”
Forty-four percent of flight delays Sunday were due to staffing shortages, and that percentage dipped to 24 on Monday, he said.
What’s next: Duffy’s remarks indicate that, absent a funding agreement, a bill from Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to pay controllers and TSA baggage screeners during the shutdown, S. 3031, is one of the few remaining near-term options to alleviate the impacts on the workforce.