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Travelers who experienced long airport security wait times and flight delays this past weekend have Democrats to thank for their refusal to support reopening the federal government, the White House said Monday.
Half of the airports in the United States saw staffing shortages over the weekend, triggering flight delays and cancellations, the Trump administration said.
“Americans are paying the price for Democrats’ sick political games as air travel grinds to a halt amid the Democrat-driven chaos,” a White House news release said. “With essential workers like air traffic controllers and TSA agents being forced to labor without paychecks, this past weekend saw the worst weekend for staff since the Democrat Shutdown began — and it’s only going to get worse.”
The government shutdown continued Monday as Republicans and Democrats doubled down on their positions. Come late Tuesday night, the shutdown will officially become the longest on record — at 36 days — breaking the previous record set in early 2019.
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The White House said Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint wait times ballooned over the weekend as essential workers like air traffic controllers and TSA agents were forced to work without pay.
Checkpoint wait times exceeded three hours at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, with some passengers enduring up to five hours in line, the White House said. At nearby William P. Hobby Airport, security wait times routinely exceeded one hour.
Passengers in the New York City area were warned of schedule changes, gate holds, and missed connections, while major disruptions hammered airports in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Austin, Cleveland, Seattle, Boston, Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., the administration said.
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“There’s a reason every major travel stakeholder — from air traffic controllers to pilots to the nation’s largest airlines — is begging Democrats to stop the insanity by passing Republicans’ clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution,” the White House said. “Each week the Democrat Shutdown is prolonged, more than $1 billion in travel-related spending is lost, all while Democrats try to leverage the suffering in their demented political game.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Democratic Party.
In addition to the disruptions at America’s airports, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), meant to be a lifeline for low-income households, was set to expire over the weekend.
“Not a single American should go hungry. Not a single American. And it’s the fault of Republicans that that is happening in this country right now,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Monday.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said Sunday in an interview that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year for millions of Americans.
Trump said he will only negotiate once the shutdown ends.
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