US faces largest-ever government shutdown, air travel hit with 2,000 flight cancellations

Washington (The Uttam Hindu): The US government shutdown has entered its 40th day. Due to this, more than 2,000 flights have been cancelled and more than 8,000 flights have been delayed across the country. This data is according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. According to the agency, the US Department of Aviation implemented the flight reduction policy from Friday. After this, the number of flight cancellations has increased rapidly. While 202 flights were cancelled on Thursday, this number increased to 1,025 on Friday and 1,566 flights had to be cancelled on Saturday. Since the shutdown began, many air traffic controllers have gone on leave, which has increased the extra workload on the remaining employees.

The Department of Transportation and the Aviation Authority have decided to reduce the number of flights at the country's 40 major airports by 10 percent to ease staff pressure and maintain airspace security. Transportation Minister Sean Duffy told CNN on Sunday that the situation could worsen. He warned that air travel could drop significantly before Thanksgiving.

The director of the National Economic Council also said that if people are unable to travel during Thanksgiving, it could have a negative impact on the country's economy in the fourth quarter of the year. The US government currently needs a temporary measure for spending, but this proposal is stalled due to a special procedure called "filibuster" in the Senate. This procedure requires 60 votes, not a simple majority. Currently, the Republican Party has 53 votes, so they are unable to remove the "filibuster" and the temporary funding proposal is not being passed.

Under the filibuster, senators delay or prevent a vote on a proposed bill or funding by prolonging debate. This is why Trump is calling for the filibuster to be abolished so he can pass funding and budget resolutions.