WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—Ranking Member of the Senate’s Aviation Subcommittee—issued the following statement after Donald Trump threatened our nation’s Air Traffic Controllers and encouraged them to leave their jobs with our nation already facing a substantial controller shortage:
“Our nation’s chronically overworked and understaffed air traffic controllers are absolutely critical to keeping flyers safe. These dedicated public servants perform an extremely challenging mission with life-or-death consequences—and it’s disgraceful and dangerous to threaten to punish controllers who put the safety of pilots and passengers first by refusing to direct air traffic when their performance would’ve been degraded by a diagnosed illness.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“It’s also just plain stupid to encourage early retirements among our most experienced and expert controllers—given how selective and rigorous air traffic controller training is, the shortage of controllers that long predates this shutdown and the value of real world experience—we should be trying to retain our most experienced controllers, not slandering them and pushing them to leave their careers early.”
-
