Shutdown: Vote Fails Again, IRS Mentions Back Pay, Flight Delays Mount
The government shutdown is more than a week old now, and there are no signs of a deal coming together.
The Senate failed for a sixth time to pass a government funding bill, with Democrats insisting that the bill include an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, and Republicans saying now is not the time to consider those.
Some hardline conservatives have started expressing support for extending the subsidies. But House Republican leadership remains opposed and progress toward a resolution is still stuck.
“The only way we solve this problem, ultimately, is that the four (Congressional) leaders and Trump agree,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
IRS Furloughs and Back Pay
Due to the length of the shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has exhausted most of its contingency funds. The IRS is now shutting most operations and will furlough 34,000 employees, or 46 percent of staff.
Although it’s notable that the IRS furlough notice did include a reference saying employees are entitled to receive back pay. This after an earlier memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) questioned whether employees government-wide were entitled to back pay.
Flight Delays Mount
There are also mounting concerns about flight delays, as more air traffic controllers call out of work.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported staffing issues at Nashville, Boston, and Dallas, prompting the agency to delay departures to those cities. Additional staffing challenges were reported in Chicago and Philadelphia as well as at air traffic control centers in Atlanta, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that “there have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations.”
Meanwhile, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Nick Daniels said there is no coordinated call out effort, and that the shutdown is putting a spotlight on a workplace that is already short-staffed.
“We need to bring this shutdown to a close so that the Federal Aviation Administration and the committed aviation safety professionals can put this distraction and focus, put this distraction behind us and completely focus on their vital work,” said Daniels.
There are also concerns that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents could call out in greater numbers if the shutdown drags on.
Joe Shuker, the president of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 333, speculated the shutdown would lead to TSA employees taking sick leave as it did in the last shutdown in 2019.
“It’s either pay for your childcare or stay home with your child. And that’s what was happening, and that caused us longer lines because people weren’t coming to work,” said Shuker of the 2019 shutdown on MSNBC.