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Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday that Americans could face a travel “disaster” as Thanksgiving approaches next month without an end in sight to the government shutdown. Their comments came after Vance hosted a roundtable of aviation, travel and union leaders at the White House, during which they aired their concerns with the current state of the industry and worked out potential, temporary solutions to ease the strain on Federal Aviation Administration employees who are being forced to work without pay to ensure Americans can fly safely, two White House officials told CNN. “Look it could be a disaster. It really could be, because at that point you’re talking about people have missed three paychecks. They’ve missed four paychecks. How many of them are not going to show up for work?” Vance said. “That’s going to lead to massive delays. We want people to be able to get home for Thanksgiving. We want people to be able to travel for business,” he continued. Duffy chimed in adding, “Our traffic will be snarled, but it will be a disaster in aviation.” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien and American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley were among those who attended Thursday’s roundtable, the officials said, in addition to nine other industry leaders. Behind closed doors, Vance and Duffy listened as O’Brien and Kelley laid out their concerns about the stress on their workforce, the officials told CNN. Meanwhile Isom and Kirby, in addition to a series of other airline association leaders, made clear just how damaging the shutdown was not only to their industry, but also the larger economy. Duffy told the group that he was working on recruiting more air traffic controllers as a temporary solution, arguing that they are most affected, they said. The meeting came as air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck of the shutdown this week. Controllers, employed by the FAA, are among the government employees required to continue working without pay. During the first Trump administration, controller staffing shortages helped tip the scales to end the longest government shutdown. In 2019, the decision by 10 air traffic controllers to call out sick temporarily shut down travel at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and caused delays at other major hubs in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Atlanta, driving President Donald Trump to agree to a temporary government funding measure. A CNN analysis found that reports of staffing problems at FAA facilities have more than quadrupled compared to the same period a year ago, raising broad concern over the fast-approaching Thanksgiving holiday. Geoff Freeman, the CEO of the US Travel Association who also attended the meeting, told CNN in a statement: “Sixty percent of Americans are already reconsidering their travel plans during the shutdown. It is costing the travel industry $1 billion a week in economic damage and that is before we get to the most important travel week of the year.” Despite the issues that were raised on Thursday, Vance maintained the administration’s position that the only way out of this was for Democrats to pass a clean spending bill to reopen the government. Freeman, as well as O’Brien and Kirby, have all now joined Republicans in calling for Congress to pass the short-term funding measure. “Congress should pass a clean continuing resolution now,” Freeman told CNN. Vance reiterated that point when addressing reporters after the meeting, acknowledging that the key issue Democrats have fought with the GOP over — healthcare subsidies expiring — are valid, but that those negotiations would not happen “at the barrel of a gun.” “The Democrats response to that is, give us everything we want, or we’re going to shut down the government and keep it shut down. That is not reasonable behavior,” Vance said. Vance added that Republicans “can’t reward” Democrats for using the shutdown as a negotiating tool, because if it works, they will continue to use it — a point the officials said he also made during the roundtable. “That’s how a child behaves. That is not how a responsible governing party behaves in the United States of America,” Vance said. A White House official told CNN Thursday they have no intention or need to meet with Democrats until the government is reopened. “We’ll see if things change,” the official said. “Nothing to meet about right now though.” The full list of attendees at the White House roundtable on Thursday:
