FAA furloughs more than 10K employees during partial government shutdown

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has furloughed more than 10,000 employees during the partial government shutdown, documents show.

The Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the FAA, projected last week in its shutdown plan that 10,552 workers would be affected beginning Saturday, when the shutdown started.

The figure represents nearly a quarter of the agency’s workforce.

Many departments, including DOT, Defense, Homeland Security, State, Treasury and others, stopped large parts of their operations following Congress’s failure to approve funding by Saturday’s deadline. The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package Friday evening, but the House was unable to return from recess to approve and send it to the White House.

President Donald Trump encouraged Republicans and Democrats on Thursday to “give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,” noting that another “long and damaging” shutdown could harm the country. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he was confident the government would be fully open by Tuesday.

“Let’s say I’m confident that we’ll do it at least by Tuesday. We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town,” he explained.

The House will consider legislation this week to fund most departments for the rest of the year, although lawmakers in both chambers will continue negotiating appropriations for Homeland Security, which includes ICE.

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