Airports experience flight delays and staff shortages during closure
Major airports are experiencing staffing shortages as TSA and air traffic controllers work without pay during the government shutdown.
WASHINGTON – A series of Americans frustrated with the government shutdown called on C-SPAN on Thursday, October 9, to confront House Speaker Mike Johnson.
In one particularly dramatic exchange, a woman who identified herself as a military wife implored the speaker to either reopen the government or provide funding so military families don’t miss out on their Oct. 15 paychecks.
Approximately 1.3 million military personnel will not receive pay unless Congress acts. The woman, who said her name was Samantha and whose family lives near Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia, told Johnson she was “begging.”
She said her two children, who have serious medical conditions, “could die.” She explained that her family lives paycheck to paycheck and may not be able to afford medicines if they don’t have the funds along with their child’s medical expenses.
President Donald Trump has said he would support his own measure to continue paying military personnel during the shutdown, but Prime Minister Johnson has not. Instead, he argued that the House, which has not voted since late September, was already trying to vote on paying the troops when it passed a short-term extension of government funding. The bill has since been rejected five times in the Senate.
“As a Republican, I’m very disappointed in my party and I’m very disappointed in you, because you have the power to recall the House,” she said. “You refuse it, it’s just for show.”
Johnson said her situation keeps her up at night. Still, she blamed Democrats for the uncertainty she faces.
“It’s the Democrats who are preventing you from getting a check,” he said.
At a press conference later that morning, he doubled down.
“We have already voted to pay our troops,” Mr Johnson said. “We did it three weeks ago.”
Another caller from Colorado asked whether Johnson would support a one-year extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of this year, raising health insurance premiums for millions of Americans. A bill introduced by House Republicans in September to continue the subsidies in the form of tax credits has bipartisan support in Congress.
But Johnson and other Republican leaders have repeatedly said that Democrats want to extend the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid benefits to countless undocumented immigrants, which is inaccurate.
During the call, he pointed to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who this week rejected a one-year extension of Obamacare subsidies as a “laughable proposal.”
“You have to ask why he said that. I don’t know,” Johnson said. “But he and I both know there’s a lot of work to do within our respective caucuses to build consensus on that.”
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
