Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered air traffic controllers from reserves amid a shortage during the government shutdown.
“I had a text from the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, yesterday, who’s made an offer that he has air traffic controllers in the reserves, if we could deploy them — and I don’t know that we can — we got to see what air spaces they worked in,” Duffy told anchor Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”
“But he’ll step in and try to provide some relief in the skies. We’re trying to minimize the pain for the American people,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the Pentagon about Duffy’s comments.
Duffy said on Friday that flight reductions could increase by 20 percent if the government shutdown continues, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started decreasing flights by 10 percent due to staffing shortages among air traffic controllers.
“If this continues, and I have more controllers who decide they can’t come to work, can’t control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job — with that, you might see 10 percent would have been a good number, because we might go to 15 percent or 20 percent,” Duffy said Friday.
The government shutdown has continued for over a month as Republicans and Democrats battle over health care. It comes after long-simmering tensions among Democrats over President Trump’s sweeping actions in his second term.
“Yesterday, we had 81 staffing triggers with air traffic controllers across the airspace. You’ve reported there was a, a — you know, a whole slew of cancellations and delays across the airspace, that trend line is getting worse,” Duffy said during his “Fox News Sunday” interview.
“Right, more controllers aren’t coming to work day by day, the further they go without a paycheck, because Democrats refuse to pay them,” he added.
