CSPAN - Washington Journal David Shepardson
Aired: 2026-03-20
Duration: 10:59


=== Air Traffic Control Shutdown (10:21) ===

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[00:01:30]  Welcome back.
[00:01:31]  Joining us a talk about DHS funding and all of the transportation issues coming out of that is Reuters Transportation Reporter David Shepardson.
[00:01:39]  Welcome to the program this morning.
[00:01:41]  Thanks for having me.
[00:01:42]  All right.
[00:01:43]  It's the 35th day of a partial shutdown.
[00:01:45]  We know the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for 35 days.
[00:01:48]  Talk about how it has affected air travel, especially now as folks are going into spring break.
[00:01:55]  So really since last Sunday, we've seen these sporadic, really long lines.
[00:02:00]  It started with like New Orleans and Atlanta and Houston, Hobby, where some of the lines were out the door all the way to parking garages near the airport.
[00:02:09]  So in some airports, we've seen 20, 30, even 40% of TSA officers calling in sick, not showing up for work.
[00:02:17]  Part of that's because on weekends, kids aren't in school.
[00:02:20]  They've got to find daycare and some people can't afford to even pay for that daycare on the weekends.
[00:02:26]  So the TSA, about 50,000 TSA officers missed their first full paycheck a week ago today.
[00:02:33]  And they're due to miss their next full paycheck a week from, I think, March 27th.
[00:02:39]  So people are struggling.
[00:02:40]  Airports have food banks.
[00:02:42]  They're offering free meals and gift cards.
[00:02:44]  And it's really a very difficult situation, especially for people who already went through this last fall during the 43-day shutdown.
[00:02:52]  So the hardest part, I think, for both the airlines and passengers is you don't know which airport is going to be subject to long lines.
[00:02:59]  And so that leads to a lot of uncertainty.
[00:03:00]  Now, nationally, since Sunday, about 10% of TSA officers are not showing up for work.
[00:03:06]  That's about five times the normal number.
[00:03:08]  But again, some airports are different and you don't really know from day to day.
[00:03:12]  And the only advice I give people is you're going to have to get to the airport early.
[00:03:16]  Some airports do offer some real-time monitoring.
[00:03:20]  CNN has done a good job like collating 15 of those.
[00:03:23]  So check the website and give yourself extra time and be nice to people, especially TSA officers.
[00:03:29]  Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, he issued a stark warning yesterday.
[00:03:34]  Let's watch.
[00:03:36]  And on average, it was only double the average call-out rate.
[00:03:40]  So what I'm seeing is it's getting worse day by day.
[00:03:42]  And we have to think about the TSA worker.
[00:03:45]  These are not highly paid individuals.
[00:03:47]  They start off at about $45,000 to $55,000.
[00:03:51]  But living in DC and Atlanta and New York, they live in very expensive communities.
[00:03:57]  So it's really challenging for them.
[00:03:58]  And so I saw this with the FAA and our air traffic controllers.
[00:04:02]  The TSA agents missed a partial payment.
[00:04:04]  Last Friday, they missed a full payment.
[00:04:07]  As we get into next week, Becky, and they're about to miss another payment, this is going to look like child's play what's happening right now.
[00:04:14]  You're going to see small airports, I believe, shut down.
[00:04:17]  You're going to see extensive lines, and air travel is going to almost come to a grid hold.
[00:04:23]  Stop.
[00:04:27]  What's your reaction to that?
[00:04:29]  So that would really be unprecedented.
[00:04:30]  Now, first of all, during that 43-day government shutdown, we didn't see that.
[00:04:34]  But I do think that over time, about 6% of TSA officers had not been showing up until about a week ago.
[00:04:42]  That's risen to about 10%.
[00:04:44]  And I think the Secretary raises a serious concern that if that number goes up higher, then it could potentially force the closure of small airports, not big airports.
[00:04:54]  And here's the reason.
[00:04:55]  So if you have Atlanta or Chicago, right, we've all been to those airports probably.
[00:04:59]  You've got many, many airport checkpoints.
[00:05:01]  So even if you had 40, 50% call-out rates, you could still have a couple of checkpoints or reduced from 10 to 2 checkpoints, right?
[00:05:10]  So those airports are not really in danger of closing.
[00:05:13]  The small airport, with a single checkpoint with far fewer TSA officers on duty, if you saw a very high number of those individuals call out, you could potentially see it close.
[00:05:24]  That would be unprecedented.
[00:05:25]  This is the second official to make this warning.
[00:05:28]  And airlines are very nervous about that, about people saying, I'm not going to book that trip, not going to go away.
[00:05:34]  And we really don't know.
[00:05:35]  A lot really depends on does this number stay at 10% or does it rise dramatically?
[00:05:40]  And I mean, just 10% of folks aren't showing up, but upwards of 300 people, I've talked to TSA representatives who say it's actually most likely way more than that, have actually quit during the shutdown.
[00:05:55]  Others are obviously calling out, as we said, but what about air traffic controllers?
[00:06:00]  What has been their presence during the shutdown?
[00:06:02]  Because we know during the last shutdown, a lot of the focus at the end was on them.
[00:06:08]  So in this case, Congress passed a separate bill to fund the Transportation Department, the FAA.
[00:06:13]  So they are getting paid during this shutdown, unlike the last one.
[00:06:17]  And I think the difference was with air traffic control, when people called out and some towers really were struggling, the FAA had to slow traffic down drastically.
[00:06:28]  And you point out that the FAA took this unprecedented action of announcing mandatory up to 10% flight cuts at these 40 major airports.
[00:06:37]  So I think the difference here is you'll go to the airport.
[00:06:40]  There's no concern that their flight's not going to take off because there is air traffic control.
[00:06:44]  The danger is, the concern is, I'm going to be in a three-hour line, I'm going to miss my flight, and will the airlines have another seat for me?
[00:06:50]  So it's a different level of concern, but there's not the concern that my airport's going to shut down completely like we had the first time.
[00:06:58]  Now, I want to invite more of our callers to join in on this conversation.
[00:07:01]  We're talking about travel woes because of the partial shutdown that's now on its 35th day.
[00:07:07]  Democrats, your line is 202-748-8000.
[00:07:12]  Republicans, your line is 202-748-8001.
[00:07:16]  Independents, your line is 202-748-8002.
[00:07:22]  You can also reach us by text message at 202-748-8003.
[00:07:27]  Now, David, you wrote yesterday about the close call between that national NTSB in Newark between FedEx and Alaska Airline jets.
[00:07:39]  Is this incident at all related to the pain that we're seeing because of the shutdown?
[00:07:48]  I don't think so, but I do think it speaks again to the stress the system's under.
[00:07:52]  Now, there are serious issues with air traffic control.
[00:07:55]  So if we back up last summer after the DC crash, the mid-air collision between the American Airlines regional jet and the Army helicopter that killed 67 people just outside Reagan Airport here in DC, Congress approved $12.5 billion to address air traffic control.
[00:08:11]  They've got two issues.
[00:08:12]  One is the technology is woefully out of date.
[00:08:15]  We need to new cloud computing, we need to get rid of copper, and just replace much of the old technology, not to mention just the facilities are bad, right?
[00:08:24]  There's bad heating, no air conditioning, elevators don't work, and 60-year-old towers and radar systems that should have been replaced years ago.
[00:08:31]  On the other side is a systemic, more than two-decade-long shortage of air traffic controllers.
[00:08:37]  In many places, air traffic controllers are working mandatory overtime, six-day work weeks.
[00:08:43]  They are significantly overstressed.
[00:08:45]  And this administration and the last administration have tried to ramp up the hiring.
[00:08:49]  So there's really an effort to address air traffic control, both from a technology and a people standpoint.
[00:08:56]  We don't know what happened in this incident in Newark.
[00:08:58]  All we know is that a controller cleared two planes to land at intersecting runways and then, as you mentioned, asked the Alaska plane to do a go-around, which means to abort the landing and go on.
[00:09:09]  And these two planes appear to have like crossed each other at about 300 feet, which a vertical separation, which is a pretty small amount.
[00:09:17]  So there have been a lot of near-miss incidents in recent years that have raised questions about the stress of the system.
[00:09:22]  But we don't, but this so far, this is not, it doesn't appear this is related to the shutdown per se.
[00:09:26]  And just my last question about shutdown before we take some phone calls here is, you know, you talked about the ways in which airlines and airports themselves have tried to help bridge the gap between the funding.
[00:09:38]  Some airports have set up food pantries.
[00:09:40]  Have you spoken to some of the people affected, like TSA officers and agents?
[00:09:46]  And if so, what are they saying?
[00:09:48]  Well, they're really struggling.
[00:09:49]  Some are taking second jobs.
[00:09:50]  Some are driving for Uber or DoorDash and making hard choices.
[00:09:56]  Do I pay for my Kids Little League bills?
[00:09:58]  Do I, you know, what about my rent?
[00:10:01]  You know, how do I put food on the table?
[00:10:02]  And it's just, you know, regardless of your political views, this is like a 95-5% issue.
[00:10:08]  Almost no one thinks people should be required to work and not get paid.
[00:10:12]  And obviously, both political parties have made rival offers to get TSA agents paid.
[00:10:18]  And the airlines and others say, hey, in the future, let's end this.

=== Families Struggle to Pay Bills (00:38) ===

[00:10:21]  We're going to leave this here, but you can finish watching online at C-SPAN.org as we take you live now to an Atlantic Council discussion on the impact of U.S. military intervention on Venezuela.
[00:10:32]  You're watching C-SPAN.
[00:10:36]  It has played a key strategic role in the Western Hemisphere and worldwide.
[00:10:42]  And here at the Atlantic Council's Adrian Arsh Latin America Center, we have long prioritized a transition in Venezuela.
[00:10:49]  I'm Jason Marzak, Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council's Adrian Arsh Latin America Center.
[00:10:56]  Maduro and Chavez's regime cozied up to U.S.