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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday said he’s considering shutting down airspace in some parts of the U.S. as the government shutdown continues.
During a press conference, Duffy issued an ultimatum for the Democratic Party. At the time of writing, the federal government was still shut down as Congress could not agree on a new spending bill. Republicans have almost unanimously blamed Democrats for the shutdown, as they need a handful of people from across the aisle to vote in favor of the bill.
In Tuesday’s presser, Duffy continued blaming the Democrats and revealed what he planned to do should the shutdown continued into next week:
So, if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos; you will see mass flight delays; you’ll see mass cancelations; and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.
Duffy’s ultimatum was the latest effort to convince Democrats to end their holdout and pass the bill. President Donald Trump’s administration has also vowed to withhold SNAP benefits from more than 40 million Americans. Although federal courts ruled that the administration had to at least partially fund the program during the shutdown, Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he would defy that order on Tuesday.
