'There is no excuse:' air traffic controllers, pilots urge Congress to end shutdown

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(The Center Square) – As air traffic controllers and other federal workers missed a full paycheck Tuesday, growing numbers of labor unions and advocacy groups are calling on Congress to end the record-long government shutdown.

During a Tuesday press event, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association highlighted how controllers and other federal workers compelled to work without pay are suffering from the shutdown.

“Almost every controller can’t make it without two paychecks. And so I think the message is clear,” Duffy told reporters. “Open up the government. End the shutdown.”

Duffy lambasted Senate Democrats for not only continuously voting to keep the government closed but also tanking a bill that would have ensured essential federal workers at least receive pay during a shutdown.

“I think we’re getting to the point of extremism, and it does beg the question for me again: what are the Democrats fighting for?,” Duffy said. “I spent almost ten years in Congress. There are political differences – those political differences are very real. And the way you resolve those differences is not taking hostages, it’s actually opening up the government and having a conversation.”

Senate Democrats have continuously filibustered Republicans’ Continuing Resolution to reopen and temporarily fund the federal government. After 28 days of a government shutdown, they are still refusing to vote for a funding deal unless it includes a costly extension of COVID-19 era changes to Obamacare subsidies.

In the meantime, “the problems are mounting daily” and federal workers are being forced to make difficult choices in order to stay financially afloat, NATCA president Nick Daniels told reporters. 

Daniels mentioned how an air traffic controller recently decided to quit his job because he no longer has the money to pay for his daughter’s life-saving medical treatments.

“This job is stressful enough. We go to work, day in and day out, and make thousands of decisions,” Daniels said. “So the message is simple: end the shutdown today. There is no excuse, that these hardworking men and women are showing up to do this job and to not ever know when they’re going to get paid again.”

Other organizations, including the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union, are specifically urging Democrats to support Republicans’ CR.

“American workers are not bargaining chips,” Teamsters President Sean O'Brien posted on social media. “Senators should stop screwing around and pass the House-passed clean, short term funding bill."