Alarm bells are going off for lawmakers after some of the nation\u2019s busiest airports experienced scores of delays over the weekend due to air traffic control staffing shortages as the government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Air-traffic controllers are among the federal workers deemed essential, forcing them to continue on the job while not receiving paychecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers are closely watching the weekend\u2019s woes and increasing possibility of \u201csick-outs\u201d by controllers, well-aware that travel delays could be the issue that forces them to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt most certainly will not get better with age,\u201d said Sen. Mike Rounds<\/strong> (R-S.D.). \u201cThe longer the shutdown goes on, the more people are going to be frustrated and we\u2019ve got people that are going without paychecks \u2014 they most certainly aren\u2019t going to get happier.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to find more of them trying to find a way to express their frustration even though that they know that there are real implications to calling in sick and slowing things down<\/strong>,\u201d Rounds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd I get it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike other parts of the federal workforce, air traffic controllers could have a say in ending the three-week long shutdown<\/strong> \u2014 but at a major cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Travel delays are among the shutdown effects felt most directly by average Americans, and the absence of fewer than a dozen controllers helped force the government to reopen in 2019 as it prompted a ground stoppage of flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n