Air Traffic In NYC And Elsewhere Is Being Delayed As A ‘Direct Result’ Of The Government Shutdown

As we enter day 35 of the current government shutdown, things are beginning to reach critical mass. Airports across the country have seen an uptick in unpaid federal employees calling out sick such as TSA agents and air traffic controllers, and now apparently things have gotten so bad that the Federal Aviation Administration is halting flights into New York’s LaGuardia Airport, as well as others including the Philadelphia International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

CNN’s Jim Sciutto tweeted on Friday morning that the Air Traffic union leader confirmed that the delays were indeed a “direct result” of the shutdown.

Meanwhile, Trump and his advisors seem to have very little grasp on how the shutdown is actually affecting furloughed or unpaid employees who are struggling to make ends meet. For instance, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday that he doesn’t understand why workers going without a paycheck can’t just borrow the money from a bank.

“There’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan against it and we’ve seen a number of ads from the financial institutions doing that,” he elaborated.

Later in the day, Trump himself tried to clarified Ross’ remarks but only succeeded in proving that he has (probably) never set foot in a grocery store before — making the bizarre claim that local stores will just “work along” with customers who can’t afford to buy groceries.

And with Trump’s continued refusals to budge on reopening the government, things are only likely going to get worse before they get better.