Senate Dems clash over why Sec Duffy is reducing flights and air traffic ahead of Thanksgiving
Democratic senators on Capitol Hill offered differing responses
as to why they believe Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the call to reduce flights and air traffic ahead of the busy Thanksgiving travel surge.
After news broke that Duffy was ordering a 10% reduction in flight capacity at 40 airports across the country, Republicans remained largely unified in their messaging that any chaos caused by the forced reductions fell at the feet of Democrats.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said short of “planes falling out of the sky,” Democrats will not vote to reopen the government. “Democrats are flirting with disaster,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote on X in response to Wednesday’s announcement, adding that there was no choice but to reduce air traffic to keep it safe.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., appeared to agree in comments he made to reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday about the move, telling them “we’ve got to make sure that flights are safe.”
“I don’t question Secretary Duffy,” Kaine added. “He wants to make sure that flights are safe.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., had a much more sinister view about Duffy’s motivations for compelling a reduction in air traffic ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
According to Coons, the new directive is an attempt by the Trump administration to “pressure” Democrats to reopen the government without their demands on Obamacare being met. Coons argued that air traffic controllers and other airport personnel have been facing strains since before the shutdown due to cuts from the president’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk.
“I think it’s appropriate for us to focus on improving air safety. It is more urgent for us to focus on the health care cliff that is impacting millions of Americans,” Coons told reporters Thursday following Duffy’s announcement. “My impression is this is another attempt at putting pressure on Congress to reopen the government,” Coons added.
