(Crankers) House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he’s confident the House has enough votes to pass the Senate’s funding package to reopen the government.
After being out of session for over 50 days, House lawmakers will need to approve the measure to end the shutdown once it clears the Senate.
In the meantime, President Donald Trump is pressuring Democrats to open the government. One major problem is all the flights that are being canceled.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a warning on Friday, stating that the administration might mandate airlines to reduce up to 20 percent of flights if the government shutdown continues. This comes as airlines struggle to implement unprecedented reductions ordered by the government.
To ease the burden on air traffic controllers, airlines have already cut four percent of domestic flights at 40 of the country’s busiest airports, following directives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). These reductions are set to increase to 10 percent by November 14.
Duffy mentioned that further cuts of up to 20 percent could be imposed. “I assess the data,” he explained. “We’re going to make decisions based on what we see in the air space.”
13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security screeners are working without pay, resulting in higher absenteeism rates. Earlier this week, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford reported that 20 to 40 percent of controllers were not showing up for work on any given day.