NATCA President Commends Secretary Sean Duffy

While Washington politicians like Chuck Schumer continue treating America’s workforce like pawns in a power struggle, one leader in the Biden administration is actually getting things done and even the unions are admitting it.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy earned rare praise this week from the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), who applauded Duffy’s decisive action to fix the staffing and modernization crisis plaguing America’s air traffic control system.

“Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy recognized this concern, and implemented plans to supercharge controller hiring and modernize the air traffic control system,” said NATCA President Nick Daniels.

That’s no small statement. Air traffic controllers have been stretched thin for years, working under immense pressure with 3,800 fewer certified controllers than the system requires and that’s before factoring in the additional chaos of a government shutdown.

Yet amid the noise, Duffy cut through the red tape and focused on the core mission: safety in the skies.

Last weekend alone, NATCA members oversaw over 113,000 flights carrying more than 7.3 million passengers, ensuring their safety even while working without pay. Daniels rightly called it a “game of tug of war”, with hard-working Americans caught between political grandstanding and real-world responsibility.

Schumer, ever the strategist, admitted that the shutdown was “getting better for us politically every day.” It’s a statement that exposes the left’s priorities power, not people.

Contrast that with Daniels’ powerful statement “This is not politics. This is not ideology. This is the erosion of the safety margin the flying public never sees, but America relies on every single day.”

Air traffic control is one of the most mentally demanding jobs on earth. Split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death, and our nation’s controllers have maintained focus through 9/11, pandemics, hiring freezes, outdated tech, and now a historic shutdown.

Yet now, with paychecks stopped, they’re being forced to focus on childcare instead of traffic flows and feeding their families instead of runway separation. This is what happens when Democrats hold government funding hostage for political leverage.

Fortunately, Secretary Duffy is refusing to let critical infrastructure fall apart. His initiative to ramp up controller recruitment and advance modernization efforts is the leadership Americans expect and the kind of bold action we rarely see from bureaucrats inside the Beltway.

It’s a sobering reminder that real safety doesn’t come from flashy press conferences or party-line posturing it comes from men and women behind the radar, doing impossible work under impossible pressure.

And now, thanks to one leader willing to act, they might finally get the support they’ve needed for decades.

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