Exclusive — Whip Tom Emmer: Shutdown Causing Flight Delays, Missed Paychecks and Democrats ‘Don’t Seem to Care’

The government shutdown is causing flight delays, missed paychecks, and more, and Democrats “don’t seem to care,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

Host Matt Boyle pointed out the current state of affairs as thousands of travelers have been affected by canceled flights and delays due to the shutdown. Air traffic controllers are stressed and some are forced to get second jobs as they miss paychecks. The four percent reduction in flights will go up to ten percent next week — right before the holidays.

“Because of Democrats, last Tuesday, air traffic controllers did not receive a full paycheck, as you pointed out. And subsequently, Secretary Duffy, we have to take our hats off to him, or tip our hats to him, because he said the number one issue is safety,” Emmer said, explaining that they are not going to “put planes up in the air if they have any question about people not being able to get safely from the point of departure to the point of destination.”

“They announced the ten percent reduction in air traffic across 40 major U.S. airports to try and make sure that we’re all safe. And what did that do yesterday, alone, Matt? More than 1,000 flights were canceled today. This is a Saturday. There’s already more than 700 that have been canceled, and it’s just going to get worse,” Emmer predicted.

“In fact, I’ve got a report from home that there’s a family in Minnesota that is at risk of not being able to fly to Philadelphia for their one-year-old daughter’s critical medical appointments,” he revealed.

“So this is affecting people and their lives, and Democrats don’t seem to care. It’s time that they wake up, Matt, and put the American people that they’re hurting before their own partisan politics,” Emmer added.