Aviation Workers Demand Shutdown Protection

0:00It's March 28th. Welcome in. This is El Paso News today, where local news meets AI. Congress keeps pushing bills like the Aviation Funding Solvency Act and keep America Flying Act to guarantee paychecks for air traffic controllers and TSA agents during government shutdowns. These ideas pop up session after session with bipartisan sponsors. But none have passed, leaving essential aviation workers high and dry when funding. Lapses hit. Shutdowns have hammered air travel hard from the 35-day one in 2019 over border wall money causing east coast delays to last. Falls record 43-day mess that force flight cuts at 40 busy airports due to air traffic shortages. Just recently, a Department of Homeland Security funding gap left thousands of TSA officers unpaid since mid-February. Workers are fed up with TSA agents like Union leaders in New York and New York calling it unstable and dishonorable after back-to-back hits drain their savings.

1:02Airlines, airports, and labor groups are blasting Congress through letters and ads saying morale is tanking shifts are missed and safety risks grow. Without steady pay, President Trump stepped in Friday with an emergency order for immediate TSA back pay after 42 days but is just a short-term patch following. Failed funding deals in the House and Senate, industry coalitions point to pending bipartisan bills as real fixes to break this cycle. Pressure is mounting from all sides, but political gridlock means these protections might stall again unless public outrage forces a vote. Aviation. Can't afford another round of chaos.