Sean Duffy Claps Back At Schumer Criticism: 'this Is Strictly Safety'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Sunday pushed back on criticisms from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as concerns around air safety rise during the government shutdown.

Speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Duffy vehemently denied claims that his department’s decision to reduce the number of flights is meant to put pressure on Democrats to reopen the government.

“I look at that data that came from the safety team, and the trend line is going in the wrong direction,” Duffy said. “So I need to take action and make sure that we keep people safe. And again, Chuck Schumer hasn't seen it. This is not politics."

After Duffy announced a 10 percent reduction in flight capacity across 40 high traffic airports around the nation, Schumer accused the Trump administration of “politics masquerading as safety.”

“The level that they will go to putting the American people in discomfort and worse is unprecedented,” Schumer said.

Since the shutdown, airports have faced mass delays and thousands of cancellations.

Duffy predicted that ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, those delays and cancellations will only increase.

“The two weeks before Thanksgiving, you’re going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle,” Duffy said.

The main cause for the disruption has been the loss of air traffic controllers, some of whom have retired in increasingly large numbers and some of whom have been calling out sick as the shutdown continues.

Air traffic controllers, including those who do show up for work, are not paid during the shutdown — causing what Duffy called a “mass gridlock in aviation.”

On Saturday, the FAA faced more than 80 staffing triggers, Duffy said, including in Atlanta where 18 of 22 controllers did not show up for work.

But the issue will only get worse if the shutdown continues, Duffy warned.

“We have controllers who, again, are making decisions to feed their families as opposed to come to towers or [Terminal Radar Approach Control] or centers and do their jobs,” Duffy said. “I want them to come to work. The problem is they're confronted with real economic problems."

Duffy said the administration has been working to “minimize the pain” Americans are facing during the shutdown — so much so that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth offered to supply the Department of Transportation with military controllers.

The problem, Duffy conceded, is that those workers may not be certified in the air spaces where they are needed most.

“But if I can, I'm going to use them,” Duffy added. ”This is not political. This is strictly safety. And I'm doing what I can in a mess that Democrats have put on my lap, and now I'm trying to keep the American people safe and keep airplanes flying."

An end to the shutdown may not be the final solution. Duffy on Sunday revealed that retirements have increased significantly.

“I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown,” Duffy said. “I'm now up to 15 to 20 a day are retiring, so it's going to be harder for me to come back after the shutdown and have more controllers controlling the airspace. So this is going to live on in air travel well beyond the time frame that this government opens back up."