Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that air travel safety could be impacted amid the government shutdown, as air traffic controllers won’t be getting their paychecks and may have to pick up more work.
“They’re going to show up for work and they’re not going to get paychecks,” Duffy said during a press briefing Monday. They have bills they have to pay. So now they’re thinking about that at the same time that they’re controlling the airspace, which I don’t like that.”
“We want them to leave their personal problems at the door when they go into a tower or into a facility,” he added.
The comment came on the sixth day of the government shutdown, following failed efforts in the Senate to break the funding dispute that shuttered agencies and upended pay for approximately 2 million federal workers.
Duffy said that some worker may have to pick up Uber shifts in order to make money while they don’t have a paycheck from the government.
“So they committed work tired, exhausted. because they’re trying to make that extra money to make ends meet, all the while, working six days a week to keep you safe in the airspace,” he explained
This is a breaking news story. Updates to come.