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On Nov. 5, 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Federal Aviation Administration will cut scheduled flights at 40 major U.S. airports, ramping reductions to as much as 10 percent if the government shutdown continues into next week. The move is being sold as a safety measure to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been left to work without pay, but the real story is simple: a political impasse in Washington is now clogging the runways and punishing ordinary Americans.
The FAA plans to phase the reductions, starting with a smaller cut and escalating to 10 percent on key days between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and the list of affected hubs reads like the backbone of American commerce — Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, New York and more. Airlines and airport operators are scrambling to adjust schedules and warn travelers that delays, cancellations, and longer lines are now likely through the Thanksgiving travel surge unless Congress acts.
This chaos is the direct result of a shutdown that has forced thousands of federal aviation workers to show up for work unpaid, increasing fatigue and absences and creating real safety risks that the FAA says it cannot ignore. Controllers who still report to duty are stretched thin, while unpaid TSA officers and support staff have produced the long lines and missed shifts passengers have seen in recent days. These are human costs of a political fight; controllers and frontline workers are not pawns to be gambled with in budget theater.
Airlines have already begun canceling flights in response to FAA directives, with major carriers trimming schedules to avoid overloading strained facilities and personnel. That means families, small businesses, and cargo operations will all feel the sting — and while the agency frames this as prudent safety management, the root cause remains avoidable: Congress refusing to do its job. The private sector is left to clean up a mess Washington created.
Even career safety officials have publicly backed the FAA’s steps, with the National Transportation Safety Board affirming that preemptive actions to reduce traffic are warranted as risks mount. If elected officials cared half as much about protecting Americans as they do about scoring political points, this shutdown would have ended long ago and travelers would not be pleading for answers at crowded terminals.
Make no mistake: every delayed flight and every stranded family is a direct consequence of reckless political brinkmanship. Conservatives who respect hardworking public servants and the rule of law should demand two things immediately — reopen the government so controllers are paid and restore certainty for travelers and businesses — and hold the obstructionists accountable for this manufactured emergency.
Washington’s elites must stop weaponizing federal workers and the travel industry to win headlines. Congress can and must pass a clean continuing resolution to get paychecks flowing again, then settle budget differences without using ordinary Americans as leverage. The choice is clear: end the shutdown now, or explain to voters why their airports and livelihoods were put on hold for partisan gain.
