Speaker Mike Johnson said he won’t bring the House back to vote to pay air traffic controllers and other essential employees, saying the measure “would be spiked in the Senate” anyway — and besides, “it would take the pressure off [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer to get his job done and open the government again.”
Johnson made the comments Thursday at a press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who noted that the government shutdown is leaving already overworked air traffic controllers without pay, many of them forced to pick up second jobs to pay the bills.
“Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that they will not receive,” Duffy said of the air traffic controllers, warning that more flights would be canceled or delayed if that is necessary to keep the skies safe as the shutdown drags on.
Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has introduced a bill that would fund air traffic controllers. But Johnson, pressed by reporters about passing such a standalone bill in the House, noted that House Republicans have already approved a “clean” stopgap funding bill a month ago — which includes funding for air traffic controllers and TSA agents’ salaries. And, the speaker argued, even if he brought the House back to pay essential federal workers, Senate Democrats would block it.
“So it would be a waste of our time,” Johnson added.
A spokesperson for Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump administration officials at the White House and the Transportation Department have been exploring ways to shift funding within the executive branch to pay air traffic controllers, but it’s a huge feat and would cost more than $500 million per month to pull off.
“I don’t know where we’re going to get it,” House Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said in an interview. “It’s going to be really tough to find it.”
Johnson said White House officials “are running out of creative ideas, and there is not an existing pot of money that could cover the air traffic controller’s salaries right now. And so that is why we have to get the government reopened.”
Safety could become an issue as the shutdown stretches longer, Graves said.
“It’s not right now, but that’s a good question. I mean, it could eventually become one — a safety issue. If air traffic controllers don’t get paid, then they’re going to be frustrated because they have obligations as well,” Graves said. “This just needs to end. That’s just all there is to it.”
