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Outside Chicago O’Hare Airport, a blast of Arctic air was delivering the season’s first snowstorm on Monday morning, a modest one by Midwest standards. Inside one of the sprawling terminals, things seemed equally stormy. Ash Hamilton was worried her flight to Mexico would be canceled and hedged her bets with two tickets to the same destination, one on United Airlines, the other on American Airlines. “Everything is precarious,” said Ms. Hamilton, a 27-year-old doctoral student who was bound for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for her field work studying oak trees. Buffeted by the foul weather and delays related to the government shutdown, Ms. Hamilton said she was still processing the news that a group of senators who caucus with Democrats had broken ranks to move to end the shutdown. “What was the point if you were just going to give in anyway?” Ms. Hamilton said. At airports across the United States on Monday, travelers were checking their phones and scanning flight displays for cancellations and delays. Republicans in Congress were pushing to end the longest U.S. government shutdown, even without concessions that Democrats wanted. The package would need to pass the Senate and then go to the House before being signed by President Trump. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
