Congress
Thanksgiving travel looms as shutdown risk, GOP leaders say
The Thanksgiving travel season could be put at risk by an extended government shutdown, Republican leaders warned Tuesday on Capitol Hill, ratcheting up warnings about flight cancellations and airport chaos amid the ongoing standoff with congressional Democrats.
Leaders in both parties are starting to look to the Thanksgiving holiday as a looming pressure point after President Donald Trump acted over the weekend to ensure active-duty military paychecks arrive on time Wednesday by shifting Pentagon funds. Many congressional leaders saw that deadline as a forcing mechanism. Now it appears ready to pass without major political consequences — raising the possibility the shutdown could drag on for weeks more.
“As TSA agents and air traffic controllers show up without pay, Democrats brag they won’t budge until planes fall out of the sky,” said Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), the GOP conference chair. “Really? Seriously?”
The current shutdown, which began Oct. 1, would have to blow past the record of 35 days set in 2019 to threaten Thanksgiving, which falls on Nov. 27. Air traffic controllers and airport security personnel are working during the shutdown but going unpaid, and personnel have reported sick at higher rates or otherwise not shown up to work under similar circumstances in the past.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other leaders said Tuesday those impacts had already started and would escalate as time goes on and on.
“Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time time to travel all year, and the list goes on and on,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said alongside Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference Tuesday, calling on Democrats to “reopen our government.”
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins joined the House Problem Solvers Caucus lunch Thursday to talk about the stalled Homeland Security funding effort and proposals to overhaul federal immigration enforcement activities.
“I think everyone is pretty frustrated at this point,” the Maine Republican said in an interview after the bipartisan meeting.
The centrist group, which extended the invitation to Collins, talked through the pain points on finding a path out of the DHS shutdown that has stretched more than 40 days and is triggering massive air travel disruptions. The conversation comes ahead of a House vote later Thursday on funding DHS, where moderates are looking to break the impasse.
Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
As House Republicans start to dream big about another party-line bill, one key member who voted down the last GOP reconciliation bill is warning his colleagues not to count on his support.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) referenced his vote last summer against the “big, beautiful bill” in an interview Thursday and suggested he was prepared to oppose another GOP-only bill if it, too, includes spending cuts he opposes to social programs.
“You saw what I did on the first reconciliation bill,” Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick and just one more House Republican could be enough to tank a party-line package given Speaker Mike Johnson’s slim majority.
Still, many of Fitzpatrick’s colleagues are making plans for an expansive new GOP-only bill that would include more money for Homeland Security operations, Iran war funding and other cost-of-living priorities, while demanding it be fully offset with spending cuts — possibly from social programs targeted for “fraud prevention.”
“You never say ‘never’ at anything, but I’m never a fan of single-party bills,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s just my approach to government.”
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) was hospitalized after falling in his home on Wednesday evening.
Wilson’s office said on Thursday that the 78-year-old is fine and working remotely.
“Last evening, Congressman Wilson slipped in the bathroom of his residence in Washington and cut his head,” David Snider, a spokesperson for Wilson, said in a statement. “He received stitches, is fine, and working remotely.”
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