From the TSA workers at security checkpoints to the air traffic controllers watching runways, all of these employees have been coming into work for 20 days unpaid.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As our current government shutdown is now the third longest in our nation’s history, local politicians here on the First Coast are introducing a bill to protect employees with the Federal Aviation Administration who have been working for the past 20 days without pay.
District 4 Representative Aaron Bean says any type of mass sick calls or walkouts would be catastrophic for the already congested airspace here on the First Coast, which features multiple airports, military bases and even space launches.
Seeing the impacts of our current government shutdown, he is introducing The Aviation Funding Stability Act of 2025. The goal is to ensure essential workers in the TSA line or air traffic control towers do not miss a paycheck, using the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
This trust fund is supported by the taxes you already pay on your plane ticket, as well as other taxes such as fuel. It would ensure essential workers can receive a paycheck for working as normal, despite the potential for another lapse in government funding.
“During the last major shutdown in 2019, by day 35 we saw a lot of air traffic controllers and other critical FAA employees calling out sick,” mentioned Congressman Aaron Bean, District 4.
Congressman Bean warns that if these essential FAA workers call out sick, you could see major delays and disruptions on your travel day—something lawmakers hope to avoid with this proposed bill.
District 18 Representative Kim Kendall dedicated her career before politics to being the “eyes of the sky,” working as an air traffic controller at the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center.
She adds that this bill could make a major difference, as airports were already dealing with staff shortages before the shutdown.
“When you stop moving your modes of transportation, the United States stops moving. We have to move all different kinds of goods and services and people,” explained Rep. Kim Kendall, District 18.
For impacted FAA employees, they will be eventually be paid once the government reopens; however, that timeline still remains unknown.