Trump tells air traffic controllers ‘get back to work’ as airport chaos worsens – follow live

Grace Eliza Goodwin
Live page reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The government shutdown – now on its 41st day but with an end in sight – has had widespread effects across the country, from reduced air travel capacity to federal workers not receiving paycheques to the shuttering of federally funded museums.

Federal workers

Around 1.4 million government workers have been going without pay during the shutdown – some, like air traffic controllers, are still required to show up for work while others are furloughed, meaning they don’t have to work during the shutdown.

Many military personnel were granted relief when the Pentagon tapped into $8 billion of available funds to get them paid, in addition to a $130 million contribution from an anonymous donor.

Air travel

Last week, the FAA began reducing flight capacity at 40 of the country’s busiest airports, causing lengthy flight delays and cancellations for travelers as air traffic controllers have reported stress and fatigue.

Museums

Smithsonian museums in Washington DC and New York City, which receive federal funds, had to close their doors last month when their funding ran out. That impacted travellers’ vacations as well as weddings that were scheduled at those venues.

Snap food aid programme

Funding for the US’s largest food aid programme, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), was thrown into limbo when funding ran out on 1 November. More than 42 million low-income Americans rely on the programme to buy groceries.

As a legal battle played out in the courts and the Trump administration issued conflicting guidance on how much Snap funds could be distributed, many recipients had to make do with less money for groceries.

Some states had started tapping into their own emergency funds to pay full, rather than partial, benefits for the month of November. The Trump administration ordered states to stop paying those full benefits on Saturday.