Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / The Shutdown’s Final Hours w TSA Chaos, Missed Paychecks & Liberal Political Theater

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The Shutdown’s Final Hours w TSA Chaos, Missed Paychecks & Liberal Political Theater · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You have people like Bernie Sanders, you have all the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Democrats who are running for president that want to want
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a spectacle, and so that if they really decide to
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: be just just fully obstructionist, they could drag it as
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: late as funding.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Good Monday morning.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: Nice to have you with us on the forty seven
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: Morning Update.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: And there's just one big story.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: The government is still shut down, but we're moving closer
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: to getting it back open. Why is it taking so long?
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Senator Cruz joins me to talk about exactly what's happening
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: on the floor of the Senate as we speak. And
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Democrats could have opened the government Sunday night, they decided
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: on purpose to drag their feet. How long could this last?
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: How much is it gonna affect your life and travel?
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: This week? We answer all of those questions.
• 0:57
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  Speaker 4: eedu slash Morning Update. It's the forty seven Morning Update
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: and it starts right now.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: Story number one.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: All right, So Center, there was a lot of excitement
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: earlier Sunday evening. My phone blew up. I'm assuming you
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: were getting the text. It's like, oh great, the government's
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: wide open again. It's gonna go back to normal. I
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: wish that was true. You just described it as we've
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: got the votes to move forward. Explain the process, because
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: i mean even on social media it was like the
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: government's reopened. I'm like, not so fast, that's not how
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: this can work. In fact, they could take almost another
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: week and totally get this thing back to where it
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: needs to be.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: So look, the good news is we finally have a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: deal and we got the votes that are necessary to
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: reopen the government. So we've had a shutdown, the schumber shutdown.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: For forty days. Yeah, fourteen different times.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Fourteen times Republicans have voted to open the government. Eighteen
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: times Democrats have voted no, have voted to keep the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: government shut down. Now, remember, the entire reason that we
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: have a shutdown is because under the Senate rules, you
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: need sixty votes to move to proceed to legislation funding
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the government. We only have fifty three Republicans. That means
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: we need at least seven Democrats, and unfortunately ran votes
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: no on all of these, so we have fifty two
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Republicans to fund the government.
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: So we need eight Democrats.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: The fourteen times we voted over the last forty days,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: over and over and over again, we've gotten at most
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: two or three Democrats. Tonight Sunday, it's just a few
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: minutes after ten pm Sunday night, we finally got the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: eight Democrats we needed. So the Democrats who voted to
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: reopen the government are Durban, Hassen, King, Cortes, Masto, Cain, Shaheen, Rosen,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and Fetterman. Those are the eight we got exactly what
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: we needed. We ended up with sixty votes, not sixty one,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: so that not in a sink. Every other Democrat voted no.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Keep it shut down. But getting eight is important, and
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: there was a substantive deal. But the substantive deal has
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: several pieces. Number One, there's a continuing Resolution that runs
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: through January thirtieth. So one thing that was really important
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to me and to a lot of conservatives was that
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: we not have government funding expire right before Christmas. Often
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: government fundings expires right before Christmas, and they use the
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: desire everyone has to go home to their families for
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the holidays to twist their arms into passing a really
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: bad bill. So this does not end right before Christmas.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: The CR Instead, the Continuing Resolution continues until the end
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: of January. That was significant. We also included three appropriation
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: bills in the deals. Now these are appropriation bills. There
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: are two ways you can fund the government. You can
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: fund the government through an appropriation bill. They're thirteen different
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: appropriation bills that fund different cabinet agencies in different major programs. Yep,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: those take sixty votes. That's what's called regular order. That's
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the way the system is supposed to work. And then
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: you could also fund the government through a continuing resolution
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: also called a CR that just keeps everything the way
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: it was before and maintains the status quo. We ended
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: up doing a combination of both. So in this deal
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: we have number one, the ag approach, So that's the
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: agriculture appropriation that includes the funds that farmers rely on,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: but it also importantly includes SNAP. It includes food stamps.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So one of the consequences of the shutdown was the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: funding for food stamps went away. With this appropriation bill,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: we will fund the food stamps for an entire year,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: so that will be taken off the table.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: And by the way, let's be very clear about that.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: Republicans tried to make sure that even with the government shutdown,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: that SNAP benefits were continuing and were not stopped. Democrats
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: made damn sure that people did not get their food
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: stent benefits during the forty day the longest shut down
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: in American history. They did that because they thought it
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: was leveraged to hurt the poorest among us in America,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: and that would then give them leverage to get more
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: of the port rail things they wanted for the Democratic
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: programs and initiatives. And they didn't care if you couldn't
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: feed your kids over the last forty days.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: So understand that was the entire Democrat strategy is maximize
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the pain on the American people because the more pain
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: that they could inflict, they were counting on the media
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: to be dishonest and blame it all on Trump, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: so repeatedly this past week, I went back and forth
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: with Democrats repeatedly, and their talking points were very simple.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: They would say, well, you have a Republican president, of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Republican Senate, Republican House. The shutdown is their fault, and
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that was it. And they were counting on the dishonest
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: corporate media to tell that lie what they omitted. And
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: actually I talked about this just this weekend. I spoke
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: on the Senate Florida. I said, look, whenever anyone takes
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: an oath to testify in court, that they put their
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: hand on the Bible and they pledge to tell the truth,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Democrats saying that they're failing part number two, the whole truth,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: because it is true we have a Republican president, House
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and Senate. What they're ignoring is the fact that it
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: requires sixty votes and it is the Democrats who force
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the shutdown because they're the ones that are not voting
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: to keep the government open. This package, we took three
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: appropriations bills. The ag Appropriation Bill which is farmers, ranchers
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and food stamps, the Military Construction and the VA Bill,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: so that funds funds our veterans and also gives funds
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: for military construction projects across the country. And then the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Legislature Bill, which, among other things, we increase the funding
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: for security for members of Congress. Given the political violence
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: we see, I think that's very important to have more
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: funds to increase security on both.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: Sides of the aisle.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: So that package, those are three appropriation bills that were bipartisan.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: The Democrats had a party in that were passed along
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: with the thirty day CR or not thirty day the
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: CR to January thirtieth.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Right, Henry thirtieth.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So all of that is what we got
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: sixty votes for tonight. Now what does that mean tomorrow morning?
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Does that mean the government is opened Monday morning? Unfortunately No.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: And by the way, people are frustrated because they think, well,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: you guys shut it down quickly, then why can't you
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: just reopen it quickly, and this is how the sausage
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: is made. And that's why I think there's some miscommunication
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: on Sunday night about.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, the government's like open up.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, there was major news out it's like government
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: opening up, the votes to have it, and they're thinking,
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: all right, well, if I'm flying out Monday or Monday
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: afternoon or Tuesday, there should be no problems at the airport.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: That's also not true. I want to be very clear
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: about that.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Look, if the Democrats want to be full obstructionist, they
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: could delay opening the government as late as Friday of
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: this week. Really, because there are a series of votes
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: we have to take in. Under the Senate rules, they
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: can delay thing. They have a right to an intervening
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: day between one voter and another. They can delay things
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: for thirty hours, and so they could drag it out.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Even though we have the sixty votes. They could drag
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: it out as late as Friday. My guess is they'll
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: drag it out till Monday or Tuesday. My best guess
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: is the government will open up Tuesday or Wednesday. But
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: we really are dealing with Look the Bernie Sanders Is
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: of the world. By the way, Chuck Schumer voted no
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: because the whole point of this was for him to
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: tell the crazy left he still hates Donald Trump. Now,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think these eight Democrats would have voted yes
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: without Schumer blessing their voting yes. So this was always
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: going to end this one.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: I was going to ask you, so getting to the
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: perfect number of eight, and again, this is how the
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: sausage is made. So let's talk about behind the scenes.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: You guys, the Repubublicans have been meeting right behind the scenes.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: You have your normal lunches that you have in your
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: other meetings, and I see you guys on the four
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: of the Senate talking and you're outside of the Senate.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: I mean Democrats are doing the same thing when they
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: decide who is in the eight to vote yes? Is
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: that strategic based on who needs cover when they're running
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: for office?
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Is that?
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: I mean there's some like Fetterman that clearly were leaders
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: on this, just saying I think it's wrong to hold
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: the American be hostage.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: I'm voting to open this thing up.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: How do they decide on the exact eight and is
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: it literally to the point where they're like, all right,
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: we're going to only give eight and you got to
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: make your argument to us why you should be in
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: the eight and we'll give you that blessing.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: How does that work?
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: So I don't know for sure.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I will say there were a number of Republicans who
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: were surprised we did not get more than eight. So
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: there were other Democrats who were telling Republicans privately they
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: were going to vote yes to open the government. People
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: like John Ossoff, who's got he's the most vulnerable Democrat
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: running for reelection in Georgia. He just voted the fifteenth
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: time to keep the government shut down, you know, George.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: By the way, Raphael Warnock, the other Georgia senator, did
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: as well. We actually thought there was a real possibility
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: they would both vote tonight to open the government. I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: don't know what Osof's calculus was. Warnock will often vote
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: with Osof to give him some political coverage, so we
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: figured that they would go They would go either both
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: yes or both no. They both voted to keep the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: government shut down.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: What is the chances to guys like that on Tuesday
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: Wednesday vote yes? After they say all right, well fine,
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: we're already going to be there. Does that change you
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: think that eight number could that change at tenth p
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: or is it pretty much a eight no.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I could easily see on a subsequent vote. Some additional Democrats,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Patty Murray, who is the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a number of Republicans believe she was going to vote yes.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I mentioned we just were going to pass three appropriation bills.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: She played a major hand in drafting those reappropriation bills.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: And so for appropriators. Look, when Chuck Schumer and the
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Democrats had the majority, do you know how many appropriation
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: bills they passed into law?
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: How many?
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: Zero?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Like the process was broken, they didn't do appropriations. It's
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: our hope to actually go through the process, to have amendments,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to negotiate it. And that's what these three bills are doing.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: And yet the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee voted no.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Chris Coons, who is widely seen as one of the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: more moderate Democrats. He voted to keep the government shut down.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Alissa Slotkin from Michigan. Look, Michigan's a purple state. She
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: voted to keep the government shut down. Gary Peters, also
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: from Michigan retiring, he voted to keep the government to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: shut down. So there were there were another half dozen
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: or so that a lot of folks thought we would
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: have a chance at getting their votes, and we did not.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: So when you don't get those votes, we move forward.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: You said this thing could end up to Friday. You're
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: guessing probably Tuesday, Wednesday the government reopens.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: How many more votes after tonight?
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: Again, for people that are listening, we're doing this Sunday
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: night at ten fifteen right now in DC. How many
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: people are How many votes will it take starting now
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to get the government actually reopen.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: We need to continue to hold sixty, but we're going
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: to the underlying terms of the deal have been cut.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: So I don't expect any of the eight who just
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: voted yes to flip. So I think we've got our sixty.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: But the remaining Democrats can just drag things out and
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: make it painful. I hope they don't. I actually pulled
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Dick Durbin aside. Durbin is retiring, and I mentioned I
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: always thought this was going to end with retiring Democrats
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: voting to open the government. Durbin did so. Now, look,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: he's the number two in leadership among the Democrats. He's
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer's right hand buddy's retiring. I told Dick tonight,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I said, look, we've got sixty now. It sure would
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: be nice if, like you guys didn't drag this out
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: unnecessarily till Friday, and just the identical outcome will happen,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: and it just is more painful for everybody. I think
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of Democrats who feel that way.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: It's why I think we'll end tuesday or Wednesday. But
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: who the heck knows. Now, there's another element to this
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: deal that's getting some attention online, which is a commitment
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to reverse the rifts, the reductions and forces that happened
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: during the shutdown. Yeah, and there's some folks online saying, oh,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: you guys cave, this is terrible. That was an offer
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that President Trump made, I think like two weeks ago
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: to the Democrats that has been on the table for
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: them a long long time, and the White House made
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the decision, Okay, if you guys open the government, we agree,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: we'll offer you that will reverse those rifts. So that
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: was in the deal, But it was a deal that
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: came from the White House that we just agreed. Okay,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: if that's if those are the terms that the President
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: wants to cut, we'll back up the president.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: So you go into Monday, you're going to have more
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: meetings throughout the day, or explain to me Monday what
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: that looks like.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: We're anticipating the first vote probably around noon. And as
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I said that, there could be we could have done
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: it all tonight if the Democrats had agreed to In
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the Senate, you can do anything by unanimous consent, and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: so if they wanted to open the government tonight, they
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: could have just consented to do one vote and then
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: do the other one next to the other, one next,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: the other one next, and we'd be done.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Like you can do that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: You know, literally, instead of us recording right now, you
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: guys could actually be voting and this could have all
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: been Monday morning. The government is open for business, all
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: the fa guys are back to normal, everybody's getting paid,
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: and they're like, now, screwt, We'll just wait a few
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: more days. So no one's flying home, right, I mean,
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: you're not flying home tonight, are you?
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: Nope?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Nope, I'm in DC. I didn't see my family this weekend.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I would have loved to have seen my kids. I didn't.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I spent most of the time just sitting here waiting
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: for Democrats to finally agree to cut a deal, but
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it was striking. We could have done it tonight, but
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: to do that you need unanimous consent. That means you
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: don't need sixty you need one hundred. That means one
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: person can object and say no, drag it out.
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: I want to burn more time. I want to burn
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: more time.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: And you have people like Bernie Sanders, you have all
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the Democrats who are running for president that want to
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: want a spectacle, and so that if they really decide
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: to be just just fully obstructionist, they could drag it
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: as late as Friday.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: So one other question is this is unfolding. When the
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: government opens back up, and let's just use a hypothetical
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: of Wednesday, all right, Wednesday the government opens up, does
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: that mean that instantly the system is going to go
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: back to normal. I'm saying this to people traveling. You
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: and I have traveled a lot. We've started to see
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: the breakdown of air traffic control and of having to
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: cancel flights. I've witnessed it traveling internationally and domestically over
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: the last couple of days.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: You've done it as well.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: And so when it opens back up, is that like
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: an instant fix or is that gonna take a couple
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: of days to cycle through the system as well? What
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: does travel look like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Look at least travel Monday and Monday and Tuesday, I
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: would expect still really significant delays and really significant cancelations.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: The reason for those delays and those cancelations. We have
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: roughly fifty thousand TSA agents all across the country. Many
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: of them are going into work. None of them are
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: being paid. They all missed their last paycheck, didn't get
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: their last paycheck. We have roughly fourteen thousand air traffic controllers.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Many of them are going into work. None of them
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: are getting paid. They all missed their last paycheck. Listen,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: if you're a TSA agent, if you're an air traffic controller,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: typical TSA agent or air traffic controller doesn't have a
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: deep reservoir of savings. I mean, they're under real stress
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: right now. How do I pay my mortgage, how do
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I pay my rent? How do I pay my bills?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: And so what is happening with both TSA agents and controllers.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: They're calling in sick, They're just not showing up, say summer,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: coming into work. The problem is in New York City
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: on Halloween Day, roughly eighty percent of the controllers called
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: in sick and didn't show up to work. That's Chuck
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Schumer's hometown, by the way. And so we're seeing with TSA.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: You had Monday a week ago, the lines in the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Houston Bush Airport were two and a half to three
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: hours lined long to get through security because they were
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: so short staffed on TSA agents they didn't have enough
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to move people through security. So even if the government
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: opens up tomorrow, you're dealing with the independent decisions of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: fifty thousand TSA agents and fourteen thousand controllers when they
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: come back to work. And the reason that the FAA
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: has mandated ten percent flights be canceled is they're looking
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: at the data and seeing that these short staffed air
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: traffic controllers there's an increased risk to safety. So they're saying,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: all right, if we don't have full staffing, we got
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to reduce the number of flights. So in a week,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: do I expect things to go back to normal? Yes,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: a week after things open up, but it could easily
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: take several days for people to say, Okay, I'm going
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: to come back into work now. That doesn't happen automatically
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: just by flipping a switch.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: So what you're.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Basically telling me is this week, when I'm flying, and
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: when you're flying, and so many others that listen to
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: this show are flying, we're going to be dealing with
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: this type of chaos because the Democrats decided not to
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: do their job even while doing their job on Sunday
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: night right now.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, and by the way, they could have agreed to
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: open it all up tonight that they could have given consent,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: said okay, you've got a deal, let's move ahead, and
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: it's now just the obstructionist who you know. If your
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: flight is canceled tomorrow, you could thank Chuck Schumer and
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: every Democrat senator running for president who's trying to show
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: off to the crazy left. But we will get it
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: open now, but it will take it'll take a few
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: more days.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: In a middle.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow,