Political Quotes

“Air traffic controllers keep our airways safe, but, as we all know, they are being asked to work long shifts without being sure they are going to get paid for that work. One air traffic controller I heard from was recently transferred to the Boston area, which is covered in New Hampshire. She is the sole provider to her mother. Now she is paying not only her mortgage but her mother's mortgage. In a letter she addressed to my office, she wrote: As a sole source of income to my household, the foreseeable future of this shutdown is detrimental. . . . [It has created] a substantial burden on not just me but the thousands of federal employees it's impacting. Sadly, the shutdown also stands to affect the safety of air travel-- not because our air traffic controllers aren't on the job. They are on the job. They are doing the work even though they are not getting paid. But the fact is, men and women who provide administrative and maintenance functions on the runway--those people who fix equipment when it stops working, who are in the control tower and at airport facilities--they will not be at work to support our air traffic controllers. So when a runway or taxiway light goes dark, it is going to go unrepaired. That jeopardizes the safety and the efficiency of aviation operations. Then there are the impacts to those Agencies that are funded by the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill.…”