Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy united Republican and Democrat critics in outrage Friday when he demanded $50 billion from Congress to fix America’s aviation systems after a nationwide flight shutdown halted all activity in U.S. airspace for more than four hours.
Duffy also confirmed Friday night during a White House press conference that the shutdown was over, after hours of uncertainty about the cause.
“This is an emergency,” Duffy said. “I want Congress to give us emergency funding.”
He added, “This is bipartisan, this is American. I want $50 billion. President [Donald] Trump is a builder; he’s going to build this network and deliver for the American people. But the president can’t deliver for America unless the Congress delivers the money.”
Duffy wrote earlier on X that the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ground stop, preventing all aircraft from departing U.S. airports, because of “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” and attributed it to old FAA routers during his presser. The shutdown left around 1.5 million people stranded or displaced after thousands of flights were affected.
Critics from both sides of the aisle railed against Duffy’s billion-dollar ask.
“Republicans have been in control for 2 years and have wasted more time and money acting like HGTV participants instead of fixing the stuff that matters and he’s here bitching like the Democrats have been in charge,” wrote one X user, with another stating: “Crony capitalism…”
“There is a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE and we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA,” wrote Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.”
Former Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went scorched Earth on Duffy.
“This press conference is unreal bullshit,” Greene wrote on X. “It’s literally like a shakedown for more money … Sec Duffy is demanding more of your hard-earned tax dollars to fix it. Paying all your taxes, which is like $5.7 TRILLION DOLLARS per year is NOT enough!!!”
She added, “This is the biggest fuck you to the American people. I’ve never seen anything so pathetic in my life! We are over $40 trillion in debt and the American people are always put last. Our money is stolen sent to foreign countries and wasted on nonstop bullshit.”
The frustrated reactions to Duffy, a former reality television star, didn’t end there.
