When air traffic controllers in the Northeast stopped coming to work during the government shutdown in 2019, the shutdown ended. The consequences of continuing were too great.
Airlines need the government shutdown to end because, while TSA screeners and air traffic controllers are considered essential workers and continue to do their jobs, they won’t get paid until the shutdown ends. And they get frustrated. Frustrated air traffic controllers are stressed, and stressed air traffic controllers take leave.
The Department of Transportation regulates nearly every aspect of the airline business. Airlines were ‘deregulated’ in 1978, but remain one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. The overhead bins on planes are regulated. The look of the exit row signs, the way no smoking signs operate, and the dividers between first class and coach are all regulated. During the pandemic when airlines started handing out hand sanitizer that required checking with DOT first. And all of that work slows down or comes to a halt while the government is shut down.
While airlines need the shutdown to end, the Trump administration – which exercises authority over almost every aspect of their business – has pressed them into service to promote their narrative of the shutdown. Today each of the CEOs of the three largest U.S. airlines came out for ending the government shutdown ‘with a clean CR’.
- Democrats want health care funds as part of re-opening the government
- Republicans want a ‘clean CR’ or simply to continue the status quo, with government open and no conditions.
American and Delta Put Out Statements Supporting The Republican Position Over The Government Shutdown
First Delta CEO Ed Bastian was called upon to speak up for the Trump administration, demanding a ‘clean CR’.
New: @Delta calls for clean CR to reopen government pic.twitter.com/ygkCUxBjNo
— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) October 30, 2025
And then American Airlines CEO Robert Isom came out of a meeting with the Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and put out a statement supporting the Republican position in the shutdown.
New: @AmericanAir statement after CEO meeting with @VP @SecDuffy pic.twitter.com/kZdNvismx1
— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) October 30, 2025
It is concerning that the regulator is dictating political statements airlines feel pressured to make – not just that the shutdown needs to end, but what the best political compromise is to do so. It’s one I happen to agree with! But when your regulator influences your speech that’s a problem. Some readers will think that I am a partisan in saying this, but they are simply confused. I was once mistakenly introduced on Fox News as the author of “View From The Right Wing”..!
To some extent it’s inevitable. Many industries worked to appease the Biden administration, the first Trump administration and the Obama administration before that. But this continues to escalate, because the executive branch continues to exercise ever-increasing whims to favor or disfavor specific companies.
During the Biden administration, Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s line was different. He did not take sides: “reaching resolution is more important than any one political point…we certainly encourage our leaders to show leadership and get through this for all of us.”
Scott Kirby, Blink Twice If You’re O.K.
The Trump administration is United’s regulator. CEO Scott Kirby knows that things can go down easy for United or they can go down hard.
Kirby may want approval for buying JetBlue. He doesn’t need unusual levels of maintenance oversight. He certainly needs signoff on new aircraft entering the fleet. Requests can be processed quickly, or not at all. There are route authorities he’ll need.
Here he is, flanked by the Vice President and the Secretary of Transportation. This is a hostage video.
HOLY CRAP! The CEO of United Airlines is now GOING OFF on Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for shuttering the government and refusing to pay air traffic controllers
It's getting worse for Chuck!
"Let's get a CLEAN CR…without putting the American workers and economy at… pic.twitter.com/qjjGKjL0SB
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 30, 2025
Airlines Need Things From The Trump Administration, And Know They Have To Play Ball
American, United and Delta went to the first Trump administration asking to limit flights to the U.S. by Emirates, Etihad and Qatar. That culminated in an Oval Office meeting where Trump defenestrated then-American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, mocking his stock price. They didn’t get what they wanted.
United Airlines was considered the ‘most woke’ airline during the Biden administration, but they donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. They hardly have ‘clean hands’ or a history of standing on principle. Now they have to bend the knee if they want to continue to do business. That’s not the way we want things to work.
- Misallocates of resources to politically connected firms rather than the most productive or innovative ones, reducing overall economic growth.
- Entrenches incumbents, preventing innovative new entrants, competition, and innovation.
- Encourages lobbying, bribery, and manipulation of regulation to capture benefits, diverting talent and capital from productive uses and harming consumers.
- Erodes the rule of law, and predictable enforcement of laws is key to investment and growth.
- Politically connected firms expect bailouts or protection from failure, leading to excessive risk-taking.
- Government resources get wasted on subsidies, tax breaks, or guarantees for favored firms instead of public goods.
- And the economy becomes less competitive globally as capital and talent are allocated based on political favor rather than productivity.
It’s no surprise we see this in such a heavily regulated industry as airlines. It’s a harbinger for what we’ll see elsewhere (and are already seeing elsewhere), too. It’s not new, or partisan, but it’s reaching new levels of danger.
Today it was no coincidence that the CEOs of Delta, American and United all took the same public position on the government shutdown – that it needs to be resolved in exactly the way that the political leaders who regulate them says it does.
Hard to hear Scott speak with #47’s tiny mushroom in his mouth. Shameful.
” Just stay a little bit longer ” ( Jackson Brown. )Jose Andres is feeding the families of the ATC. Mortgage and other credit companies will defer payments. No it may not the best travel season, but we can be hostages or eventually free from tyranny.
Trump and Politicians are all Crooks. Nixon eve said it!
They have rap sheets
All corporations need to STAY OUT OF POLITICS.
it is for the people not For the CEO’s
Where do all the taxes and fees attached to airline tickets go? The State Dept employees who process passports are still working and getting paid due to salaries being supported by passport application fees. TSA and ATC should be no different, CBP too. I have flown multiple times this month and paid my government-imposed taxes/fees.
@Maryland — Jose Andres and everyone at World Central Kitchen are truly worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize, not only for here and now, but for the countless lives they’ve enriched and literally saved in some cases.
1990, Andres has been nominated for the peace prize in the past. Unlike Putin’s puppy Donald that begs for it.
@ 1990 — Tiny mushroom! Love it. I don’t understand why the shutdown needs to end. Didn’t someone say that the congress isn’t needed for the next 3.5 years? They already passed everything Merica needs. I mean, who needs nutritious food and healthcare. Feed them cake!
Dems voted for clean CR 13 times under Biden while continuing to negotiate budget. Why not now? If it’s now politically acceptable for minority party to shut down the government during negotiations in order to extort majority with outrageous demands, then expect this to happen every single time…I mean why not, if you can frame it with a straight face that it’s the majority’s fault for not caving to our demands?
In any case, this is an easy test to see if someone is a dishonest political hack or a reasonable person. If you think this is Trump’s fault, you’re not a serious person worthy of a conversation. That’s why I don’t engage with the regular leftist loons on here, you can’t argue with short bus people. No point responding to their inane and illogical rantings.
United and Delta are run by weasels but this really illustrates that they’re spineless weasels. American hasn’t had a CEO who could count past ten with his shoes on since before the USAir merger so I don’t actually expect much from them although it’s still galling that the Big 3 are choosing to side with the destruction of norms in exchange for short term benefits.
@Gene — As I said over on Ben’s site, by tacitly siding with the admin (and thus not caring about healthcare), Delta is acting like the Marie Antoinette of airlines, “Let them eat Biscoff!”
No story here. Exactly what is to be expected. Now, if the ATC gave an ounce of concern for their self-interests they would support the shutdown and the Dems.
The current administration has done everything they can to undermine the unions representing all federal employees. Any effort by the ATC to pressure the Dems to capitulate would be at the cost of the ATCs’ own self-interests. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for the current administration to totally screw ATC once this is all said and done.
Say what you will but the fact is the Republicans want a CR with no additions, no tacked on pork, etc. The Democrats are afraid of their far left counterparts “primarying” them and are playing politics with SNAP, WIC and Federal workers pay, including ATC’s and Military. They have voted 13 times against just a clean CR.
There is a lot of false claims on social media. The truth of the matter is that the Senate Democrats (not the House Democrats) are responsible for the shutdown because they voted against CR, continuing government operations. However, the Senate Democrats are doing it because they really want their legislation passed. Of course, the Republicans and Democrats could compromise and should. When you compromise, you usually don’t get all of what you want.
Seems the Democrats supporting the government shut down are wishing for a Pyrrhic victory. A word of advice for them – never start a dumpster fire while you are standing in the dumpster.
It is quite sad the level of pain suffered by many because one party wants to continue a temporary Covid subsidy that applies to people making more than 400% of poverty income. So, they want us to continue to give tax dollars for the health insirance of single people making more than $60,000/year.
Its really chaotic to see senate Democrats trying to place blame elsewhere; seems when the Republicans were the minority & holding up the shutdown, it was them screaming about the lack of the GOP supporting clean CR bills while they work out the rest. Lots of clips on Insta, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc. Now its perfectly OK to drag their feet and keep the government shut down with a CR sitting there, waiting.
We’re screwed as a country.
“Airline CEOs Pressured By Their Regulator To Support Trump’s Shutdown Line”. It’s a plausible hypothesis, Gary, but where’s your evidence?
@1990: I would have thought it’s beneath you to use such vulgarities. Reminds me of Trump’s 2016 comments. You can make your point without degrading yourself.
Re the bill, the Woke Left and the Woke Right are destroying America.
anyone that thinks that power isn’t being increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few not just in government but also in big business is beyond naive.
It is the game to play right now and you can’t blame those that are playing the game.
Real question is why WN wasn’t there.
@ haolenate — Yes, we are screwed because we have a leader who doesn’t care about out constitution or anyone other than himself.
Time to shut down my wallet to United Delta and AA
@DaninMCI, @derek, @haolenate — #47 and Republicans are willing to take healthcare away from Americans, starve the poor, and not pay air traffic controllers or the military, just to give more tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.
It seems #47 doesn’t mind this shutdown at all; he may even enjoy causing more suffering while he builds that new palace on the WH East Wing; he’d rather just be a dictator, and also wants to avoid the Epstein files be released (once that AZ Rep is seated).
@Common Sense — Nice try; you just happen to understand metaphors. So, technically, that’s on you, not me, you sly dog…
“Now, if the ATC gave an ounce of concern for their self-interests they would support the shutdown and the Dems.
The current administration has done everything they can to undermine the unions representing all federal employees. ”
Unions and democrats are the last people I would support. Sure changes were needed but this administration has been incredibly hostile to all federal employees. This is wise advice.
@David — Fascinating. So, you’re against unions and Democrats (I’m assuming you have to be because you’re in a ‘red’ state or something), yet, you recognize the administration has been hostile to federal employees.
Huh, it’s almost as if reforms to protect workers (and consumers) are sorely needed in our country. Wonder which party and organizations fight for such improvements? Oh, currently, that’d be unions and the Democrats. The irony. Republicans will only do austerity (you know, ‘bootstraps’) while they grift for themselves.
It’s sad to witness folks who know better or should know better, but have been brainwashed by astroturfing and corporate media for decades into voting against self-interest, giving away more power to the super-rich, and leaving us all worse off. There’s a better way. The people outnumber these politicians and the rich; they should be demanding a new ‘New Deal’ to get us out of this second Gilded Age; we should ensure healthcare, a living wage, and a retirement plan, at a minimum, for all our citizens.
And, rest assured, there’s ample money to do all this and more; don’t believe the lie of ‘false scarcity’. If #47 can bailout (sorry, but, but… it’s a ‘currency swap,’ psh) $40 billion to Argentina on a whim, then he can do practically anything, but chooses not to. For instance, on food, it’s not a supply issue (we got plenty), it’s a distribution problem; like, there’s literally $6 billion in food reserves, but Republicans won’t send it out to those who need it (they’d rather let it spoil), because they want folks to suffer, so they can deny them healthcare, too. Probably also to ‘thin the herd,’ even if it’s affecting their own states most. It’s absurd and cruel. We all deserve better.
@Mantis There is no such thing as a “clean CR” anymore when the party in power will cut funding to whatever it wants with a simple majority.
It takes 60 Senate votes to pass anything, but only 51 to cut funding, and up until now it was understood that if you pass funding with 60 votes, it shouldn’t be cut without 60 votes, otherwise trust breaks down.
A clean CR means that the government will continue to fund what Congress has already decided to fund, but Republicans have recently broken with norms and have cut funding for things with only 51 votes. So why should Democrats believe that passing a “clean CR” won’t just lead to more cuts in funding, which is not actually a clean CR.
So let’s say the Dems cave and pass the CR as is. Then when the Republicans get the HUGE blowback in the coming weeks from health insurance premiums going up by $1000/month according to healthcare.gov and they cave and restore the subsidies. Exactly what did the republicans accomplish by not reopening the government earlier?
@TM — Believe it or not, probably further consolidation of power… Vought and Miller (the two actually running things right now) are happily use a ‘shutdown’ or any distraction to avoid transparency and accountability, and to further enrich themselves, while preparing for militarizing American cities, disenfranchising voters, and ultimately, staying in-power, indefinitely. However, I doubt ‘the base’ is gonna do a ‘clean’ transfer of loyalty from #47 to the couch-lover, so, we’ll see how that all plays out. By the way, in that 2024 film by Alex Garland, gotta say, the President in that work of fiction, played by Nick Offerman, kinda looks like the couch-guy. Hmm.
@Player2 — Don’t take @Mantis too seriously; recall that he gave up on his and moved to Asia (as he’s publicly admitted on here); consider him one of those ‘fake-triots’ pretending to care, but just wanting more chaos for us back home.
As to this false notion of a ‘clean’ CR, fellas, the Republican’s Big (ugly) Bill purposely failed to continue these essential healthcare subsidies, while continuing the tax cuts to the wealthiest and major corporations that were scheduled to end. It’s all by-design. So, a ‘clean’ CR is ‘dirty’ as hell, because it would just ‘cut’ healthcare anyway.
The real question is why do Republicans want to harm their own constituents? MTG may be crazy, but she’s one of the few who’s actually asking the right question: What is the Republican plan for healthcare? Because, currently, there isn’t one. It’s just, ‘thin the herd,’ and ‘let ’em die,’ and ‘bootstraps,’ which, if you were to actually put folks through that cruelty, they’d quickly realize that it’s the worst possible deal for them. And, maybe, they need to ‘feel’ it to believe it. Or, the propaganda is just that good, and they’ll still blame Democrats or ‘brown people’ for their troubles. Pathetic.
NYTimes reporting: The president said it was time for G.O.P. leaders to get rid of the longstanding rule that means most Senate legislation needs 60 votes to pass. Alright, so ‘going nuclear’ in more ways than one, these days. Restarting testing of literal nukes, and passing legislation narrowly, without compromise or bi-partisanship. Folks, Republicans think they’ll be in-power, forever. (But, they won’t. So, as Bill Maher likes to say, such ‘New Rules,’ will be used and abused.)
@Gary Nothing like turning a travel blog in a partisan political piece. When Dems were in charge did you report on airline CEOs championing DEI programs? CEOs will always play the game. They will align with Washington power in order to kill any EU261 type program or secure a bailout similar to what thy achieved with the Cares Act during Covid.
Its time to end the democrat shutdown.
The gop has called a vote over 12 times to vote on a CR that clean. The democrats want their healthcare for illegals.
@Maryland
The democrats are holding this country hostage, this is their shutdown and they are losing support.
@Parker
The workers aren’t getting paid because the democrats are holding funding hostage. All so that illegals can get free healthcare.
The dems are losing the fight bigtime.
@Tim Dunn the consolidation of power is indeed disturbing and harkens back to the Guilded Age and the robber barons. There are two easy fixes that, sadly, will be fought every step of the way by those with vested interests:
1. Term limits for all elected officials
2. End Citizen United and get corporations out of politics
@This comes to mind – little math exercise.
A single making $60K / year walks home
With about $45K after taxes. Let’s make it easy and say $4K/mo.
Rent: $1,000
Transit: $500
Utilities: $200
Food: $1,000
Other Bills: $500
How does this person afford health insurance,, out of pocket medical expenses (including deductibles that are often greater than $5k a year) funding their retirement, saving for the unexpected and funding an education? Health insurance is coming in close to $1,000 for decent coverage.
Have you any idea how hard it is for people making that kind of money to have any chance at upward mobility?
@Walter Barry — Your Dear Leader has called for the so-called ‘nuclear’ option, so you’re likely to get your wish, in this case. However, you should realize that proceeding with the Republican’s current plan will result in tens of millions of Americans losing access to healthcare, as their insurance premiums are scheduled to double in the coming months. Propogandists such as yourself will likely try to blame ‘brown people’ (yet again), but the truth remains: Republicans are doing this to Americans; they are causing unnecessary suffering (disproportionately to the needy in ‘red’ states), just so billionaires and major corporations get tax cuts. Once your ‘base’ finally wakes up and realizes they were duped yet again, I’m not sure the lies, bigotry, racism, sexism, and other distractions are going to be enough, sir. You’ll probably need to militarize the country to hold onto pow… oh. Already doing that, huh? Yeah, shame on Merrick Garland…
@Parker — I applaud you for trying with @This comes to mind, but let’s be clear, no facts or examples are gonna get through to these folks; it’s gotta literally happen to them, personally, individually, for them to care. They will have to actually receive the premium increase notice, and still, they’ll just blame their ‘perceived enemies.’ We’ll literally have to go through another Great Depression, before some of those in His ‘base’ ever realize how they were ‘played.’
@1990 – Then they’ll still somehow desperately try to blame the left that’s trying to help them rather than their own party or – Le Gasp – themselves for backing policies that will hurt them so billionaires can have even more money.
A clean CR in theory would be great. Problem is Republicans these days are a bunch of liars and deniers. Even though I’m a “right leaning Centrist”, I support the Dems holding the line.
I wouldn’t trust the Republicans even if I had a Kind and and Ace..they’ll figure out a way to cheat.
@Parker, No, I don’t think we should be subsidizing health care premiums for someone making $60,000/year. But, someone making $100,000/year (or 200k, 300k, etc.) also gets the subsidy. Prior to Covid, the cap was 4X poverty level to get a subsidy. The “temporary” Covid legislation removed the cap. Can we agree there is some income, $X, when you get no subsidies? Can we agree X should be <$200K? Less than $120K? Can't we draw a line?
@JS – Nope, passport processors at the State Department aren’t being paid this shutdown, despite the fact that they are funded by non-congressional funds, and thus could legally be paid. The current administration continues to delight in inflicting additional pain where ever they can. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2025/10/what-happened-to-all-of-our-funds-passport-services-staff-exempt-from-shutdowns-working-without-pay/
It’s a Schumer Shutdown. Schumer and his colleagues can end it whenever they want. If they cared at all about Americans instead of everyone else from every other country they would have voted and ended the shutdown. It’s their problem to fix.
@This comes to mind — Oh, so now we’re negotiating. Reminds me of that ole joke…
Man to woman: Would you sleep with me for one million dollars?
Woman: Sure.
Man: How about for ten dollars?
Woman: What do you think I am?
Man: We’ve already established what you are. All we’re doing is bargaining about price.
Technically, the ‘joke’ works for all genders. Could be ‘man to man’ or ‘woman to woman’ or…
@This comes to mind — Ok, so here’s a follow-up on that ‘joke’…
Now, imagine that you offered me one million dollars to be a garbageman for a year. I would take it. But if you offered me $30K for the same time, I wouldn’t. The fact that I would take a million to be a garbageman doesn’t mean I’m a garbageman. The fact that a woman would take a million dollars to be a prostitute doesn’t mean she’s a prostitute.
It’s a bad joke. And you getting into the approximate income for whether someone ‘deserves’ healthcare is also a BAD JOKE.
Administration: “Nice little airline you got here. Be a shame if something happened to it.”
Scotty on his knees again in DC. Just another day.
Some are always gilding the lily. For a single person with $60,000 income the taxes are $5,216 Federal (from Google AI) and $4,590 combined Social Security and Medicare tax. Add on state taxes of about half of Federal tax or less. Per the BLS, the average household spends $504 on groceries so a single person would be less. $1,000 a month represents over $30 a day. A person trying to save money doesn’t have to spend anywhere near that amount. $500 a month should be fine for most single people with many are probably able to live on less than $300 a month for food with limited eating at restaurants. If the $500 in undefined other bills is added to the $700 in food savings and $200 in taxes that aren’t really there, you get $1,400 a month. Take $400 a month and put it in a 401k for 30 years in a mutual fund following the S&P 500 and you should have a tidy fund for retirement. Utilities and transit costs can probably be cut a bit. This would not work in expensive cities due to rent costs unless the person had apartment mates or house mates. Of course, if the bus can be taken to work (or a bike), transit costs come down substantially.
I hope Republicans like when Democrats do everything back to them, but 10x, as soon as they lose political power for being bad at governing (as they always do). Keep setting precedent that there are no boundaries on power, and wait until President AOC uses this to her advantage 100%.
Won’t seem so great that you turned the US into a dictatorship with no checks and balances then, will it?
Hayek was right.
@TProphet — Gonna have to disband the current Supreme Court; because, the real reason they’ve been doing the emergency ‘shadow’ docket, with no reasons for their many recent decisions favoring #47’s authoritarianism, is so that inevitably when the other ‘team’ is in charge, they can deny them, hypocritically and ironically on the basis that we don’t have ‘kings.’ When one side is willing to break all the rules, the other has no chance. Gotta start a lot over.