There's no end in sight for the government shutdown as Republicans and Democrats seem locked in a fight to the death over spending in a new budget, and the longer the stalemate continues, the worse travel is going to be, experts warn.
While air traffic controllers and other essential airport personnel are currently working without pay, the TSA and others -- and your own common sense -- say that won't last for long. About 13,200 air traffic controllers and more than 61,000 Transportation Security Administration employees are expected to remain on the job without paychecks until the shutdown is over.
“The longer a shutdown drags on, the more likely we are to see longer TSA lines, flight delays and cancellations, national parks in disrepair and unnecessary delays in modernizing travel infrastructure,” Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, warned in a statement.
The best way to predict the future is to remember the past and traffic snarled in 2018 and 2019, when the government had its longest-ever shutdown, for 35 days, during President Donald Trump's first term.
"About three weeks into that shutdown, some unpaid security screeners started calling in sick, and air traffic controllers sued the government in a bid to get their paychecks. Miami International Airport had to temporarily close one of its terminals because TSA officers were calling in sick at twice the airport’s usual rate," PBS reported.
As the podcast above attests, many in the know says what will probably break the political stalemate is TSA workers and air traffic controllers putting their foot down. The New York Times reported that many, including Senator Bernie Sanders, credited air-traffic controllers for ending the previous shutdown.
Many of them started calling in sick, airports either ground to a halt or had maddening delays, and suddenly both sides were willing to negotiate.