November 06, 2025 11:43 AM UTC

New Shutdown Pain: Flights Being Cut at Major Airports, Including DIA

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• by: Colorado Pols

The federal government shutdown is now officially the longest in U.S. history (surpassing the 2018-19 shutdown also under President Trump’s watch). After Tuesday’s massive election victories, Democrats have new reason to stick to their shutdown narrative about holding the line until Affordable Care Act subsidies are renewed. Republicans, meanwhile, have a new set of terrible headlines to deal with.

As The Associated Press reports:

Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are among 40 of the busiest across the U.S. where flights will be cut starting Friday due to the government shutdown, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday it would reduce air traffic by 10% across “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers go unpaid and exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown.

The affected airports in more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S., including Atlanta, Denver [Pols emphasis], Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work…

…Controllers already have missed one full paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as the shutdown drags on.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned earlier this week that there would be “mass chaos” in the skies if the shutdown continues long enough for air traffic controllers to miss a second full paycheck — which is exactly what will happen next week. Duffy seems to have backed off his October bravado, when he threatened that air traffic controllers who call in sick would be fired; someone must have reminded him that the FAA is already chronically understaffed. Lines have also been long at airports everywhere as unpaid TSA staffers are missing shifts at growing rates.

Reducing air traffic by 10% is a significant cut that will make Americans rethink their Thanksgiving travel plans and puts new pressure on Trump and Congressional Republicans to negotiate with Democrats rather than stick with their all-or-nothing approach on ending the shutdown. Air traffic controllers have historically played a major role in ending previous shutdowns, including in 2019.

But as the AP reports in a separate story, Republicans somehow still think that people are buying their line that this is all on Democrats — nevermind those stupid election results on Tuesday:

Trump has increased pressure on Senate Republicans to end the shutdown — now at 37 days, the longest in U.S. history — calling it a “big factor, negative” in the poor GOP showings across the country. Democrats saw Trump’s comments as a reason to hold firm, believing his involvement in talks could lead to a deal on extending health care subsidies, a key sticking point to win their support. [Pols emphasis]

Senate Majority Leader John Thune opened what’s seen as a pivotal day in efforts to end the government shutdown by saying the next step hinges on a response from Democrats to an offer on the table…

…“Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end. Well, I have good news for the president: Meet with Democrats, reopen the government,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Trump is refusing to meet with Democrats, insisting they must open the government first. [Pols emphasis] But complicating the GOP’s strategy, Trump is increasingly fixated instead on pushing Republicans to scrap the Senate filibuster to speed reopening — a step many GOP senators reject out of hand. He kept up the pressure in a video Wednesday, saying the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to pass legislation should be “terminated.”

It’s odd that Republicans continue to attempt to deflect shutdown blame when: 1) Trump won’t even meet with Senate Democrats, and 2) House Speaker Mike Johnson has kept the lower chamber on recess since September 19.

Trump’s claim that he will negotiate on renewing health care subsidies only after the government is reopened should continue to be a non-starter for Democrats considering that the President has demonstrated — repeatedly — that his word is worthless.

The examples of this are endless, including a new story today about SNAP (food stamp) benefits. Trump has been talking tough about ignoring court orders to use emergency funds for SNAP, but now the White House is saying it was all a joke, or something. Via Huff Post:

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump himself added to the chaos, declaring SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president didn’t mean what he’d said, and that the administration was, in fact, complying with court orders, which the government’s lawyers essentially admitted Wednesday the government had accidentally failed to do. [Pols emphasis]

On Wednesday morning, Trump spoke as though nobody had told him what his own government had been up to.

“Millions of Americans are going to be without SNAP benefits,” Trump said at the White House. “We must get the government back open soon, and really immediately.”

Trump has relentlessly destroyed his own credibility in the last 10 months, leaving no reason for Democrats to believe that he would negotiate in good faith on any issue — let alone something as consequential as a government shutdown and the doubling of health insurance premiums. Democrats can’t trust Trump, and after Tuesday’s election results, they have no reason to change course. Republicans are increasingly understanding this problem:

“Polls show that most voters blame Republicans more than Democrats,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican. “That’s understandable given who controls the levers of power.”

Many Americans can’t afford health insurance, can’t adequately feed their families, and can’t be confident about traveling to see family during the holidays. Combine this with Tuesday’s election results, and the only thing Republicans should be thinking about is how to limit what looks to be catastrophic political damage heading into 2026.