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More air traffic control staffing problems were reported this weekend than any other weekend since the start of the shutdown, according to a CNN analysis of Federal Aviation Administration operations plans. There were 146 staffing “staffing triggers” reported from Friday morning to Sunday night, which means air traffic controllers had to alter operations to keep the airspace safe with fewer people working. These steps can include rerouting planes or delaying flights when there are not enough controllers to handle the normal workload. Thirty-two of the staffing problems were reported Friday, 63 Saturday and 51 on Sunday. Since the start of the shutdown there have been 596 reports of short staffing causing a trigger, more than six times as many as were reported on the same dates last year. Remember: The previous worst weekend for air traffic controller staffing was the weekend of Halloween when there were 98 staffing triggers. 46 were reported on October 31 alone. A critical bloc of eight Senate Democratic centrists yesterday helped advance a funding deal to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, putting Congress on a path to end the longest shutdown in US history within days. That deal, which must still pass the full Senate and the House before heading to President Donald Trump’s desk, would include a new stopgap measure to extend government funding until January and be tied to a larger package to fully fund several key agencies. It includes no guarantee from Republicans to extend the health care subsidies that have been at the heart of the funding fight. It could also mean an end to travel woes experienced by thousands of air travelers over the weekend. Air traffic controllers and TSA screeners must work without pay during the shutdown, and as financial strain grows, more workers are calling out, adding pressure to already-stretched agencies and delaying travelers. The staffing shortage, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s order last Thursday to cut flights by 4%, resulted in chaos across the nation’s airports. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he believed air travel “would be reduced to a trickle” ahead of Thanksgiving. Elsewhere, the US Department of Agriculture ordered states to stop issuing full food stamp benefits for November and to “immediately undo” any issuance of the full allotments, after a Supreme Court justice on Friday paused a lower court order requiring the agency to pay Americans their full assistance. In the Saturday directive, obtained by CNN, the USDA told states to instead proceed with issuing partial benefits — which will provide 65% of the maximum allotments for November — as ordered by the same lower court judge earlier in the week. Stay with us as we bring you updates on all of this and much more from Washington throughout the day.
