As Shutdown Wears On, Trump's Getting Blamed

[Passages]

But if Democrats don’t demand that he honor any budget deal, they will lose the war even if they win the battle.

by David Dayen October 9, 2025

The longest government shutdown in American history was stopped because of a sick-out. Specifically, in early 2019, air traffic controllers, after working for weeks without pay, started to call in sick in increasing numbers, leading to flight delays and travel snarls. Eventually, that got both parties to the table to halt the shutdown after 35 days.

The air traffic controllers have recognized their power and decided to get going with things much earlier this time. Delays in Newark, Denver, Hollywood Burbank, Nashville, and many more airports have been reported, even as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the employee union, has urged members to stop workers from calling out sick. The truth is that the air traffic controller workforce has already been thinned out to such a degree that only a “slight tick-up” in sick calls is enough to ground a lot of planes. It’s going to get worse, because funding for the Essential Air Service, which keeps the lights on at a lot of smaller airports, could run out by the end of this week. So if you want to get somewhere far away, you increasingly won’t be able to do so.


SNIP*
Bharat Ramamurti has a helpful rundown of what Democrats have to really get in order to pass a funding package. He correctly notes that the current Democratic counteroffer raises the vote threshold for rescissions to 60 votes, effectively blocking them. But he adds that Democrats need to raise the punishment for withholding or rescinding funds outside of the rescission process, such as by defunding Vought’s Office of Management and Budget in the event of illegal impoundments. And Democrats can statutorily increase who can sue over impoundment, breaking the runaround the Supreme Court is using to effectively bless the withholding of appropriated funds.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-10-09-shutdown-trump-republicans-air-traffic-controllers/

Smart.