US Vice President JD Vance warned Thursday (Oct. 30, local time) that if the government shutdown drags well into November, air traffic controllers will continue missing paychecks, potentially disrupting the nation's air travel system as the holiday travel season approaches.
"It could be a disaster, it really could be, because at that point you're talking about people missing three paychecks, they've missed four paychecks," Vance said at the White House on Thursday after a meeting with aviation industry leaders.
"Do we want those people who keep the aviation system running to not be able to feed their families, to not be able to pay for some of the things that make life worth living?" Vance said.
"We want them to be able to afford a good life. The only way for that to happen is to reopen the government," he said.
Vance blamed Democrats for "trying to take a hostage" and keeping the government closed. "Stop this craziness and open the government," he said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has repeatedly warned of the danger of air traffic controllers missing paychecks, said on Thursday that October has been a relatively slow travel month, "but as we go into November, travel picks up."
In a press conference at Philadelphia International Airport on Oct. 24, Duffy said there is frustration and anxiety among air traffic controllers as the government shutdown drags on, and the stress level they are under right now is "unacceptable."
Duffy noted that the system is already short of 2,000 to 3,000 air traffic controllers and that a plan to increase that number will take a couple of years. Starting this month, some 13,000 air traffic controllers have continued working without pay.
At a press conference on Oct. 24, Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said that as this shutdown continues and air traffic controllers are not paid for the work they do, "that leads to an unnecessary distraction, and they cannot be 100 percent focused on their jobs, which makes this system less safe."
According to FlightAware, more than 6,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed on Thursday, with over 1,000 cancellations.
The federal government shutdown is now in its fifth week and could soon set an all-time record, with little sign of compromise between the Democratic and Republican parties.
(Source: Xinhua)
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