Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 7-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on the 6th that the "shutdown" of the federal government caused air traffic controllers to have to work without pay. On the same day, the FAA said that the shortage of staff caused flight delays at airports in California, New Jersey, Colorado and other places.

Duffy held a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on the same day, saying that air traffic controllers are expected to continue to work unpaid, which means that in addition to worrying about flight safety, they also have to worry about how to pay their bills and consider whether to find a part-time job to support their families after working six days a week.

Due to differences between the Republican and Democratic parties on medical-related welfare expenditures, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a new interim appropriations bill on September 30 before government funds were exhausted. Starting from 0:00 on October 1, Eastern Time, the federal government "shut down" again in nearly seven years, and the two parties "threw blame" on each other for this.

Affected by this, a large number of federal employees have been forced to take unpaid leave, but employees in some key positions such as air traffic control still need to work "without pay."

According to Reuters, during the "shutdown" of the U.S. government, about 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration staff were still working unpaid. The shortage of manpower forced some people to work six days a week.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, insufficient staff affected multiple flights such as Denver International Airport in Colorado, Burbank International Airport in Los Angeles, California, and New Jersey Free International Airport. Flight tracking website data showed that more than 4,000 flights were delayed in the United States on the 6th, with Denver and Burbank airports most affected.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on social media on the 6th that the Burbank Airport Tower had "zero air traffic controllers between 16: 15 and 22: 00 on the same day", and there were no air traffic controllers for six hours. The * governor also said, "Thank you Trump".

Republican President Donald Trump said on Friday that "progress" has been made to end the government's "stop-up".H, on the same day, the Senate voted around a new provisional allocation bill, and both Democrats and Republicans' proposals were again vetoed.

Nick Daniels, president of the trade union representing air traffic controllers, said earlier that the government's "shutdown" increased the work pressure of controllers, and caused many employees responsible for logistics and maintenance of old systems to leave their posts, thus weakening the aviation safety system. On the 6th, he once again urged Congress to end the government's "shutdown" as soon as possible. (Zheng Haoning)