Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo to discuss the government shutdown and its effect on air travel.
Duffy also discussed the issue of illegal aliens being given driver licenses in California.
He explained that the federal government would withhold millions of dollars in funding because Governor Newsom was unwilling to comply with the law.
“Are you seeing a lot of TSA and transportation workers now calling in sick, saying they are not coming to work since they are not getting paid?” Bartiromo asked.
“Yes, so they got their notice on Thursday and Friday. They get a notice of what they are going to be paid on Tuesday, and they get a big fat zero. No paycheck is coming on Tuesday,” Duffy said.
“I’ve been out talking to our air traffic controllers, and you can see the stress. These are people that often times live paycheck to paycheck,” Duffy said.
“The controllers are wearing thin. And again, they are taking second jobs,” Duffy explained.
“You going to see more staffing shortages in towers, which means you are going to see more delays, more cancellations, and then you see more Americans frustrated at Democrats, and they will say, open up the government. Enough is enough,” Duffy said.
“Tell me about this staffing trigger. Explain that to us. In other words, people are not coming to work because they are not getting paid,” Bartiromo said.
“We have more people calling in sick. More people not showing up for work,” Duffy said.
“My message has been to the controllers, show up, that’s your job. Eventually you are gonna be paid, but there is real life situations that they are dealing with, with their families,” Duffy explained.
“I was in one of the towers, and they were celebrating the fact that the airlines had sent them lunch and are sending them dinner,” Duffy continued.
“I don’t want air traffic controllers going to a food bank,” Duffy said.
“We do have the best controllers. These are well qualified professionals that keep our airspace safe,” Duffy said.
Bartiromo also asked Secretary Duffy about California issuing licenses to illegal aliens. He explained that millions of dollars would be withheld and that they were looking into preventing the state from issuing commercial driver licenses.
“You say that you are threatening to strip California of the ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses,” Bartiromo commented.
“They have unlawfully issued 60 thousand of these licenses to people who have come into the country, and they have done it illegally,” Duffy said.
“Gavin Newsom has thumbed his nose at us. He has refused to comply with the rules that have come from DOT,” Duffy said.
“I’m about to pull 160 million dollars from California,” Duffy said.
Watch:
Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy @SecDuffy spoke about the impact the federal government shutdown is having on U.S. air travel.@FoxNews pic.twitter.com/NbdDuYROZv
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) October 26, 2025
The post Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Weighs in on Government Shutdown and Its Effect on Air Travel: “The Controllers are Wearing Thin, and Again, They are Taking Second Jobs” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.