Several pilot unions and associations have issued statements calling for the passage of a clean continuing resolution (CR) in order to reopen the government and end the ongoing shutdown.
Unions such as the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), have issued statements calling upon lawmakers to support a clean CR, which Democrats have continued to oppose, according to USA Today.
The statements from the unions come as roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers are currently working without being paid during the ongoing shutdown.
“We have seen the stress and tension this year on the National Airspace System due to short-staffed air traffic controllers,” CAPA said in a statement, according to the outlet. “This shutdown only compounds the pressures they face as they now report to work without a paycheck.
CAPA added that they were calling “on Congress to end the government shutdown by passing a clean Continuing Resolution.”
In a statement shared by the White House, Nick Silva, the President and First Officer of APA, stressed that “Congress should reconvene and work in a bipartisan manner to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund and reopen the government.”
“We stand with our brothers and sisters in air traffic control and TSA who continue to show up to work every day without a paycheck,” Silva added. “These men and women take their oath seriously to guarantee a safe National Airspace System so we the pilots can ensure the flying public reaches their destinations in a timely manner and without harm.”
Captain Jody Reven, who serves as the President of SWAPA, issued a statement that “SWAPA strongly urges Congress to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government.”
A press release from Airlines for America, the “trade association for the leading U.S. airlines,” noted that “missed paychecks for the federal employees charged with the safe and efficient facilitation” of the United States’ national airspace causes unnecessary stress for people such as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.
“Missed paychecks for the federal employees charged with the safe and efficient facilitation of our national airspace unnecessarily increases stress for the thousands of air traffic controllers, TSA officers and CBP employees who work every day to keep aviation safe and secure,” the association said.
The association continued to “urge elected leaders to act with an appropriate sense of urgency to solve this problem and immediately reopen the federal government,” adding that the “quickest and simplest way to ensure those critical employees are paid is by passing a clean CR.”
Breitbart News has reported that as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, flights to locations such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Houston have experienced delays, or have been halted as a result of air traffic controller staffing shortages.
On Monday, President Donald Trump called for Democrats to “do a simple extension” and accused them of holding the clean CR up.
“The Democrats should just do a simple extension,” Trump said. “The Democrats are holding it up. They want $1.5 trillion for people that came out of prisons, or illegal aliens that come into our country. We don’t want to do that because that will really hurt the health care that we have in our country.”
