Airport delays pile up as lawmakers return to D.C. with stoppage nearing a full month

Flights were delayed Thursday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, New Jersey’s Newark airport, and Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

The cause, as in previous delays seen earlier this week, was air traffic controller staffing shortages exacerbated by the government shutdown.

The Associated Press reports:

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The White House said Friday that the release of October inflation data due next month is likely to be canceled due to the US government shutdown, posting “there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history.”

The post went on to again blame Democrats for the stoppage and added that “surveyors cannot deploy to the field — depriving us of critical data … the economic consequences could be devastating.”

The announcement came as September’s inflation data was belatedly released and came in lower than expected but held stubbornly at around 3% in September.

Another closely watched government data release is the monthly jobs report. September’s jobs data was compiled but the shutdown commenced before it could be released.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts added a challenge Friday for Trump to “release the already prepared September jobs numbers before the Fed meets next week to decide on interest rates,” saying the president is “hiding” that data.

A White House official also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether October’s jobs report was in jeopardy because of the shutdown.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday morning that traffic controllers “are angry” about the shutdown and that additional flight delays could be in the offing as flyer safety becomes a growing concern.

“I can’t guarantee you that your flight is going to be on time, I can’t guarantee that your flight isn’t going to be cancelled,” Duffy said Thursday during an appearance on Capitol Hill alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The secretary added that shutdown-related disruptions are “moving throughout the national airspace,” and that as he and his team see safety issues, “we will delay flights.”

The new comments come as shutdown-related travel delays are already piling up. Staffing shortages among air traffic controllers led to delays over this past weekend and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed new airport troubles on Tuesday.

Thursday’s event also featured Sam Graves, a Missouri congressman and chair of the House Transportation Committee. The lawmaker said that for now “our skies are safe,” but Johnson added that the longer the shutdown continues, “the safety of the American people is thrown into further jeopardy.”

Duffy also expressed renewed worry Thursday that the shutdown could cause long-term problems, saying that current air traffic control trainees are thinking about leaving the field given shutdown uncertainty.

The secretary added that, given the already stressed air travel system, if the shutdown continues, these problems could “ricochet in the months and the years to come.”

The latest daily statement from the US Treasury Department finds that America’s gross national debt has topped $38 trillion. It’s the fastest accumulation of an additional trillion dollars in debt since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gross national debt hit $37 trillion just in August of this year.

CBS News reports how the ongoing shutdown could make things worse.

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The Federal Aviation Administration says air traffic controller staffing issues have caused new headaches this week for some travelers after a round of delays was seen over the weekend.

These federal workers are currently being asked to continue reporting to work during the shutdown, even as their paychecks have ceased. Controllers got a partial paycheck earlier this month and are set to see the pay they’re due to receive next week fully delayed until the shutdown ends.

Reuters reports

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The first three weeks of this government shutdown have positioned air traffic controllers — a group that often rode out previous stoppages with minimal fanfare — as a key economic crimp point so far.

This comes after years of challenges in control towers.

Just this past weekend, tracking site FlightAware clocked over 5,000 US delays on both Saturday and Sunday. The FAA said staffing shortages were a major culprit.

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President Trump on Tuesday told a group of Senate Republicans to hold firm on the ongoing federal government shutdown, which on Wednesday is set to become the second-longest in US history.

“Our message has been very simple: We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs,” he said during a lunch he hosted for GOP senators at the Rose Garden, which some observers said was meant as a show of unity amid the ongoing spending impasse.

From Bloomberg:

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Few signs of movement towards an end to the shutdown were in evidence Monday morning on Capitol Hill as both sides remained in partisan crouches and perhaps further apart than ever on the central issue of extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson again rejected talks at a press conference. He also invited two colleagues to appear alongside him who are among the loudest Republican voices for not devoting more money to the issue under any circumstances — shutdown or not.

Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland spoke first and called these enhanced Obamacare subsidies a “Biden bonus.” He was joined by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas — a fellow member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — who echoed the sentiments saying “we are not for giving more money to insurance companies.”

Meanwhile Top White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said no concessions are in the offing from the White House. He predicted on CNBC Monday that the ongoing pressure campaign would mean “moderate Democrats will move forward and get us an open government” suggesting the shutdown is “likely to end sometime this week.”

But little evidence of that was in the offing on the Democratic side.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is leading Democratic effort and he began the workweek posting what he termed “Trump’s shutdown checklist.”

Markets have brushed off the economic effects of the government shutdown so far but at least two economists this past week argued for diligence in the coming days as economic effects begin to pile up.

Both even used the same word to describe potential economic costs on the horizon: “nonlinear”

RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas offered in his analysis to investors this past week that as the shutdown enters its third week “both the public and policymakers should expect the impact on households and businesses to increase in a nonlinear fashion.”

Oxford Economics lead US economist Bernard Yaros also said in his own report that the effects could multiply. He first acknowledged a rule of thumb that a government shutdown tends to reduce annualized GDP growth by 0.1-0.2 percentage points each week it lasts but “there are nonlinear risks associated with these economic costs as time goes by.”

Brusuelas projects that the shutdown’s effects on economic growth could increase from 0.1% a week so far to a 0.25% per week drag on US gross domestic product.

Oxford adds in their analysis that the shutdown currently is disrupt about $800 million in federal awards each business day but that the economic costs could multiply when federal employees miss an entire pay cycle — as is expected soon.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced late Thursday that a variety of federal agents — including those at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) — will be paid during the shutdown at least for the next few weeks.

It’s a move that could lessen a key economic pain point with airports in focus during past funding shortfalls.

Noem posted late Thursday that “more than 70,000 sworn law enforcement officers across DHS including those serving in CBP, ICE, Secret Service, TSA and other critical mission areas will be paid for all hours worked during the shutdown period.”

Noem said these officers would receive a “super check” by next Wednesday that would cover already lost days, overtime, and their next pay period.

The move does not address air traffic controllers — who appear set to continue being asked to work with their pay deferred — but the move could nonetheless lessen the chances for airport disruptions in the immediate term. During a previous shutdown in 2018, hundreds of TSA agents called in sick after being asked to work without pay.