With a government shutdown underway because Democrats are demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending, here are five brutal consequences of the stoppage.
Troops Protecting America Will Go Without Pay 
Thanks to the shutdown, members of the military working to protect America will go without pay until new funding is approved. Despite not getting paid, military personnel will still be expected to stay on duty and perform their required tasks. 
“Military personnel on active duty, including reserve component personnel on Federal active duty, will continue to report for duty and carry out assigned duties. This includes duty involving excepted and, to the extent they can be performed without incurring new obligations, non-excepted activities,” <a href="https://wjla.com/resources/pdf/79d6e679-134e-465a-ade4-dbb99d290dd9-CONTINGENCYPLANGUIDANCEFORCONTINUATIONOFOPERATIONSINTHEABSENCEOFAPPROPRIATIONS.pdf">according </a>to the Department of War’s shutdown contingency plan. 
Civilian employees of the military who are not needed in support roles will be furloughed while the shutdown continues. At the same time, other federal law enforcement officers, such as those working for the Department of Homeland Security, will also go without pay. 
“Our [Homeland Security] law enforcement officers will continue to work throughout the Democrats’ Shutdown to make sure our homeland is safe and secure. More than 200,000 of these patriots will go without pay,” <a href="https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1973229586910683546">said</a> Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “The Democrats will be forcing over 150,000 officers and nearly 50,000 members of the military—our frontline of defense—to continue protecting our nation without pay.”
<div id="attachment_979633" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-979633" class="size-full wp-image-979633" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2237786142.jpg" alt="Members of the National Guard patrol near the US Capitol on the National Mall in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC for President Donald Trump's &quot;safe and beautiful mission&quot; are set to keep working in the city, without pay, if the US government shuts down over a funding dispute between the White House and congressional Democrats." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2237786142.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2237786142-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2237786142-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2237786142-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images.</div>
Law Enforcement Operations
The shutdown could stifle the work of certain federal law enforcement task forces cracking down on violent crime across the country, the National Association of Police Organizations <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-led-shutdown-will-put-law-enforcement-lives-on-the-line-without-pay-top-orgs-warn?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Democrat-Led+Shutdown+Will+Put+Law+Enforcement+%E2%80%98Lives+On+The+Line%E2%80%99+Without+Pay%2C+Top+Orgs+Warn">warned</a>. 
“Federal funding for task forces will stop flowing,” the organization warned. “Federal grants, resources, and supports for state and local law enforcement will stop, leaving vital public safety initiatives in the lurch.”
The organization, which represents 250,000 law enforcement agents, stated that law enforcement personnel should not be expected to put their lives on the line without adequate compensation.
“To have them risk their lives without pay undermines support for the work they are doing and increases the stresses and strains the job puts on them and their families,” the organization added. “We are calling on all lawmakers to do the right thing and enact a continuing resolution to fund the government before time runs out.”
Veterans Will Lose Assistance
Military veterans will also lose access to key Department of Veteran Affairs assistance programs, <a href="https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/veterans-benefits/2025/october/whats-affected-by-the-government-shutdown">according</a> to the American Legion. They will no longer be able to receive transition program assistance or career counseling, regional benefit centers will be closed, and there will be no ground maintenance or placement of permanent headstones at VA cemeteries. Additionally, multiple hotlines will be closed. 
“President Trump opposes a lapse in appropriations, and on September 19, the House of Representatives passed, with the Trump Administration’s support, a clean continuing resolution to fund the government through November 21. Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands,” the VA <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/government-shutdown-2025-trump-live-updates-rcna234261">said</a> in a letter to veterans. 
Travel 
While airports will continue to operate across the country, there could be delays as thousands of Federal Aviation Administration employees are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/faa-would-furlough-11000-employees-us-government-shutdown-2025-09-30/">expected</a> to be furloughed. Additionally, aircraft controllers and TSA employees will also be working without pay throughout the shutdown. 
“Under [President Trump’s] leadership, [the Department of Transportation] has hired 20% more air traffic controllers than the previous administration did in the same time period. Our team at the [FAA] did tremendous work to make this happen AHEAD of schedule,” said Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. “Now, [Sen. Schumer] and [Rep. Jeffries] are holding their paychecks HOSTAGE to push their America Last agenda through Congress.”
“The American people shouldn’t have to suffer through endless delays and cancellations because Democrats are too busy fighting for benefits for illegal immigrants! Make it make sense!” Duffy added. 
<div id="attachment_979635" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-979635" class="size-full wp-image-979635" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2231890603.jpg" alt="Travelers wait in line at the TSA security checkpoint at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) in Dallas, Texas, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. For the first time in almost 20 years, pre-flight screening as of last month no longer requires passengers to take off their shoes and run them through X-ray machines, and officials have signaled they intend to ease the rule limiting containers of carry-on liquids to no more than 3.4 ounces." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2231890603.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2231890603-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2231890603-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2231890603-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Photographer: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images.</div>
Healthcare Programs Expire, Nutrition Programs Languish 
Certain healthcare programs have either expired or are expected to face delays as the shutdown continues. 
For example, the Acute Hospital Care at Home Initiative, which enables hospitals to obtain approval to treat Medicare patients with conditions such as respiratory diseases or bacterial infections at home, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/popular-health-program-will-expire-if-senate-dems-force-government-shutdown-white-house-warns?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Popular+Health+Program+Will+Expire+If+Senate+Dems+Force+Government+Shutdown%2C+White+House+Warns">expired</a> on Tuesday. The popular program required congressional approval to continue and had been benefiting approximately 1,200 patients per month. 
Two other healthcare programs that could be impacted by the shutdown are the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides low-income families with additional nutrition, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is intended to provide food benefits to low-income individuals. 
The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdown-2025-air-travel-social-security-impact-rcna234594">programs</a> will move forward “subject to the availability of funding,” and House Speaker Mike Johnson said they could be significantly hampered by the program. 
Vice President JD Vance <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jd-vance-tells-ben-shapiro-democrat-support-for-shutdown-is-cracking?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=JD+Vance+Tells+Ben+Shapiro+Democrat+Support+For+Shutdown+Is+‘Cracking’">told</a> Ben Shapiro that he believed the shutdown was a politically untenable situation for Democrats, who voted Tuesday and Wednesday to block a temporary spending plan.
“You already see, I think, the Democrats cracking a little bit because they realize it’s such a preposterous position to say, ‘We’re gonna shut down TSA, we’re gonna not pay our troops because you guys won’t give us benefits for illegal aliens.’ It’s crazy, and I don’t think it’s a tenable political situation for them to be in,” Vance said.

US Government Shutdown Looms With Trump, Democrats At Odds

Five Brutal Consequences If Democrats Continue Government Shutdown

Here Are Five Of The Biggest Negative Impacts From The Government Shutdown

airport

Department of Veterans Affairs

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Government Shutdown

JD Vance

Law Enforcement

U.S. Military

On April 28, air traffic controllers lost all radar and radio contact with planes headed into one of the nation’s largest airports.
For nearly 90 seconds, air traffic controllers couldn’t see, hear, or communicate with flights inbound to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/05/air-traffic-controllers-newark-airport-delays.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Newark Liberty International Airport</a> — a horrifying blackout that underscores the urgent need for a complete overhaul of our air traffic control system.
The culprits were a fried copper wire transmitter and a failed backup communications line — symptoms of an antiquated air traffic control infrastructure that faces mounting pressure with every passing day.
Although flight remains the safest form of commercial travel, we shouldn’t tempt fate. It’s foolish and negligent to continue standard operating procedures amid the aviation sector’s rapid deterioration.
At present, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-108162" target="_blank" rel="noopener">76%</a> of all functioning air traffic control systems are “unsustainable” or “potentially unsustainable.” Moreover, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/business/air-traffic-controllers-understaffed.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90% of towers nationwide</a> are significantly understaffed amid glaring failures in recruitment and training.
But these visible failures signal a deeper problem with American aviation: consistent obstruction of necessary investments in America’s aviation infrastructure.
Congress has repeatedly failed to allocate enough funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Even when it does provide funding, it is often distributed by agencies in an inefficient manner due to burdensome regulatory processes. At times, these bureaucratic hurdles block funding altogether.
With all the wasteful spending and other non-essential things American taxpayers fund, upgrading the nation&#8217;s air traffic control system is, correctly, a top priority for President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
But if we expect to keep our airways safe and secure, and ensure that America has the best air traffic control system in the world, it also needs to be a top priority for Congress.
To make matters worse, the FAA is presently without clear, stable leadership. Nearly two months after the president’s nomination of Bryan Bedford to lead the FAA, Congress has yet to schedule his confirmation hearing. Bedford’s nomination has received overwhelming support from airline industry leaders, and his swift confirmation would expedite the implementation of necessary reforms in American aviation.
Recently, Secretary Duffy reiterated the urgency of enacting such reforms, unveiling a comprehensive plan to realize Trump’s vision to restore safety and excellence to the industry. The plan includes immediate emergency funding for the most critical system updates, multi-year budgets so the FAA can prioritize innovation, and supercharging the air traffic controller training and hiring pipeline.
Cooperation from enforcement and budgeting agencies and their leaders is critical for implementing this ambitious and necessary plan and ensuring that funding is directed toward the most acute areas of concern. Once Congress moves to provide funding, swift action and coordination from departments like the Office of Management and Budget, where I once served, is paramount to seamless air travel and this plan’s success.
The funding approval and regulatory enforcement processes must be expedited so that funds can easily and efficiently reach air traffic control towers, operators, and training centers. We cannot allow these urgent reforms to be derailed by bureaucratic backlogs, red tape, and delays in leadership appointments.
Frugality to the extreme can quickly become recklessness — especially when it means gambling with the lives of pilots and passengers. There is no badge of honor for continuing to push off essential upgrades to ensure safety in the skies. We must ensure that the funding Congress allocates is distributed in a rational, efficient manner.
Once implemented, Secretary Duffy’s proposals will radically overhaul our air traffic control infrastructure by building six new control towers, replacing antiquated radars and communications systems — including WWII-era radar monitoring platforms and 1980s technologies like floppy disks — with updated wireless and satellite technologies, and streamlining hardware and software systems for a common national platform.
The American people have entrusted their safety to the government. President Trump and Secretary Duffy have answered that call with a plan of action. Once congressional funding is secured, it will be our agency leaders’ duty to steward taxpayer dollars toward this end in an efficient and responsible manner.
Overhauling our air traffic control systems will be a joint effort between Congress, the president, and our executive agencies. Together, their regulatory and enforcement work must be a catalyst, not a speed bump, in making the president’s vision a reality.
Once a paragon of innovation and excellence, America’s air traffic system has descended into atrophy. But this administration finally has a chance to enact the change we so desperately need — a chance to restore American ingenuity and maintain safety in flight in perpetuity.
Joe Grogan served as Assistant to President Donald Trump for Domestic Policy from 2019-2020 and Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2017-2019.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-AVIATION-FAA-TRAVEL

It’s Time For Congress To Stop Gambling With Airline Safety

Air Travel

Airline Crash

Airplane

Congress

Donald Trump

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Sean Duffy

Dozens of commercial aircraft were left virtually flying blind after a Monday outage at Denver airport’s air traffic control left pilots unable to communicate with controllers for 90 seconds.
The incident occurred Monday afternoon at the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center in Longmont, which oversees aircraft movement across nine states.
Between 15 and 20 commercial aircraft approaching Denver International Airport lost all communication with controllers when multiple radio transmitters failed.
While initial reports indicated an outage of up to six minutes, the FAA has since clarified that the outage was approximately 90 seconds, and that it is &#8220;investigating&#8221; the cause.
According to ABC7, controllers were already <a href="https://www.denver7.com/news/investigations/outage-leaves-up-to-20-pilots-headed-to-denver-airport-unable-to-contact-air-traffic-control-on-monday">operating</a> on a backup fifth frequency when the system crashed, as four of the other frequencies had already crashed.
When the final frequency went down, a controller eventually reached one pilot using a seldom-used distress channel, who then relayed instructions to other aircraft.
David Riley, a retired air traffic controller with 32 years of experience, said this incident was a sign that the FAA’s equipment was “getting old” and is no longer a risk that should be tolerated.
“The biggest risk is you have airplanes that you&#8217;re not talking to. And then, therefore, the pilots have to try to figure it out themselves,” Riley said. &#8220;They still had radar coverage, but that&#8217;s like watching a car crash happen and not be able to do anything about it.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s not acceptable. And the biggest problem is the fact that the FAA does not have stable funding to replace this equipment and maintain it in an appropriate fashion.&#8221;
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently acknowledged the outdated infrastructure problem.
“We should be using fiber, but it&#8217;s copper. We use radar from the 1970s. Some of them are from the 80s, but most of them are from the 70s,” Duffy said. “So, this technology is 50 years old that our controllers use to scan the skies and keep airplanes separated from one another.”
The Transportation Department now <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/05/08/us-news/transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-calls-for-multi-billion-dollar-overhaul-of-failing-air-traffic-control-system-by-2028/">plans</a> to ask Congress for billions to overhaul the system, including replacing 618 radars and upgrading all FAA computers that controllers use.
The FAA has experienced severe staffing shortages, with Newark Liberty International Airport recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/business/newark-airport-delays-staffing-shortage.html">operating</a> with just three controllers when 14 were needed.
In a statement to Fox Business on Thursday, the FAA <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/denver-air-traffic-controllers-temporarily-lose-radio-communications-aircraft">admitted</a> that the Denver outage was partially due to how the &#8220;antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce.&#8221;
The incident comes amid growing concerns about air safety following several high-profile aviation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/small-plane-crashes-on-busy-florida-road-killing-all-three-on-board?author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Small+Plane+Crashes+On+Busy+Florida+Road%2C+Killing+All+Three+On+Board">accidents</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/passengers-forced-to-evacuate-after-delta-jet-bursts-into-flames?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Passengers+Forced+To+Evacuate+After+Delta+Jet+Bursts+Into+Flames">near-misses</a> across the United States in recent months.

Denver Air Traffic Goes Dark, Leaving Nearly 20 Planes Stranded Mid-Air In Latest Scare

General

U.S.

A high-ranking Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official confirmed that the hotline between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and the Pentagon became inoperable during the Biden administration in March 2022.
On January 29, American Airlines Flight 5342, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, collided in midair near the airport with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that had three people on board. Multiple American figure skaters and coaches returning from a training camp were on the flight. There were no survivors.
An internal preliminary report from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/federal-aviation-administration-faa">FAA</a> said that staffing at the tower was &#8220;not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-washington-dc">according to The New York Times</a>. The newspaper said the controller who was dealing with helicopters around the airport was also instructing airplanes that were landing and departing, tasks which are typically assigned to multiple people.
On Wednesday, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/5/faa-reauthorization-one-year-later-aviation-safety-air-traffic-and-next-generation-technology_2">questioned</a> Franklin McIntosh, the FAA Deputy COO of air traffic control, about proper procedures.
“On April 25 for the first time since the January 28 mid-air collision, the army resumed flying in the national capital region,” Cruz noted. “Less than a week later, air traffic control had to command two commercial aircraft on final approach to abort their landing at DCA due to an Army Blackhawk on an apparent training mission at the Pentagon, having wandered far too close to the commercial aircraft flightpath.”
“Shortly thereafter, and just 10 days after having resumed limited flight in the national capital region, the army aviation brigade, suspended operations in the DC area,” he continued. “I’ve been told that prior to the army aviation brigade’s decision to suspend operations on May 5, the FAA was preparing to suspend the letter of agreement between the army and the FAA that gives the army the ability to operate the DC air space without having to first ask for FAA clearance for each flight. Was the FAA prepared to suspend the letter of agreement, and if so, what was concerning enough to justify such a decision?”
“We were extremely troubled by the incident that occurred, especially in light of DCA and the events that led up to the accident,” McIntosh admitted. “We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD in this instance. &#8230; We were ready to do any option available to include what you just spoke to, which was removing the ability to fly.”
“Just to be clear, does that mean the FAA did actually draft an order suspending the army’s ability to fly in the DC area?” Cruz asked.
“I’m not 100% aware if we drafted an order, but we did have a discussion if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,” McIntosh replied. “I do know that the DOD came back and suspended operations on their own based on that event so we’re still working with DOD to improve that process.”
“Is it true that the hotline, the direct line between the Pentagon air traffic control and the DCA tower, has been inoperable since March 2022?” Cruz asked. When McIntosh confirmed that the hotline indeed had been inoperable, Cruz continued, ‘Who maintains that hotline?”
“I believe the DOD maintains that hotline but I think the next question would be why were we not aware of it and insist upon it being fixed? “ McIntosh replied. “We take safety responsibilities extremely seriously in the FAA and those were the questions we were asking and we were not aware, but we became aware after that event and now that we became aware of that event we are were insisting upon that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon.
“While army flights were ongoing, if the hotline was not operational, how did controllers communicate?” Cruz wanted to know.
“We still have landline abilities; we can make phone calls from the helipad to the operation where the supervisor or the controller in charge can answer so we’re aware of the activity and if there was a departure clearance needed, we’d be able to relay it via that mechanism,” McIntosh answered.
“Is it also true that the air traffic control positions for local traffic and helicopters were combined early just as they were on the day of the mid-air collision?” Cruz pressed.
“Yes sir, it was,” McIntosh confirmed.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this article.

US-AVIATION-ACCIDENT

Hotline Between Reagan National Airport, DOD Became Inoperable During Biden Admin

Air and Space

Department of Defense

Politics

Reagan national Airport

Ted Cruz

President Donald Trump deepens U.S. ties in the Middle East with historic economic partnerships, while domestic battles over tax cuts and Medicaid rage on in Congress. The Federal Aviation Administration calls an urgent meeting with airlines to address critical staff shortages and faulty equipment at major travel hubs, grounding thousands of flights. And, a sweeping ICE raid in Nashville nets nearly 200 illegal aliens, sparking backlash from the city’s Democratic mayor and a larger national debate on Homeland Security protocols. 
It’s Thursday, May 15, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Budget Battles, Billion-Dollar Bets &amp; ICE Busts" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h0OyYhoNAwc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
&nbsp;
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/budget-battles-billion-dollar-bets-ice-busts-5-15-25/id1576594336?i=1000708562058" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Budget Battle Continues</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-920451" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-2.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-2.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-2-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: House Republicans negotiated Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” this week in marathon sessions that began Tuesday and stretched well into Wednesday morning. Lawmakers muscled the legislation forward to prepare it for passage by the end of next week.
As budget negotiations continue to shape the bill, Congressional Republicans are focused on permanently extending Trump’s 2017 &#8220;Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.&#8221; On top of that, Republicans want to make good on Trump’s campaign promises, such as no tax on tips, and boost funding for the military and immigration enforcement.
“We&#8217;re checking all the boxes,&#8221; Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Newsmax. “ [The president] promised no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security, no taxes on, for example, interest on car loans that are made in America. A number of those things are woven into this bill, and we&#8217;ve made all the math work so we can do that.“
So far, Republicans have agreed on new tax exemptions for tips and overtime pay for those earning less than $160,000 annually. The government will pay $1,000 to parents for babies born through December 31, 2028. The House bill also raises the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction from $10,000 up to $30,000, which some Republicans in blue states have said is still not enough.
However, to balance the books, the GOP must find funding offsets. For example, the bill limits itemized deductions for the 37% top bracket, and some Inflation Reduction Act tax credits for electric vehicles and green energy will be scrapped, though not entirely until 2029. The bill would also introduce work requirements for able-bodied people to access Medicaid, and would create new safeguards to prevent waste and fraud, although those reforms could face opposition in the Senate.
And… Yesterday, the White House announced an agreement that it said would generate an economic exchange worth $1.2 trillion with Qatar. As part of that deal, Qatar Airways said it plans to buy as many as 210 planes from Boeing. The U.S. has also agreed to deeper military cooperation with Qatar. Earlier this week, the president struck deals with Saudi Arabia that the White House says are worth about $600 billion.
&nbsp;
<h2>FAA Reforms</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-920453" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004-2.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004-2.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004-2-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: The Trump administration is putting pressure on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after several deadly plane crashes and concerns with staffing shortages.
On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy testified to lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee about the Transportation Department’s new budget request. He’s asking for billions of dollars to update the country’s air traffic control system, which has been the target of widespread criticism after several deadly disasters and major snarls in the system.
Hundreds of flights were grounded at Newark Liberty International Airport last week when air traffic controllers lost communications with planes for about 90 seconds. Newark needs 38 air traffic controllers – it only has 24, and five of them are on a 45-day trauma leave due to stress resulting from recent problems. Also, construction at Newark has caused about 34 flight cancellations per day. Duffy blamed the Biden administration for failing to fix a broken system.
“This did not have to be our story,” Duffy said. “Over the last four years, the last administration, they knew this was a problem. And by the way, during COVID, when people weren’t flying, that was a perfect time to fix these problems.”
On Wednesday, airlines met with the FAA to address the situation at Newark. The FAA is already working on the Newark airport — it installed a software update to prevent another outage and is slashing the number of flights for now.
Duffy has made reversing the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI ) hiring practices implemented under the Obama and Biden administrations a major focus and has introduced a new recruitment program to address the air traffic controller shortage. He also <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/5290613-sean-duffy-air-traffic-control-overhaul/">wants</a> to invest in new equipment — new radios for air traffic controllers, radar on the ground, tarmac sensors, and a new flight management system to improve airspace efficiency. As he was testifying to Congress on Wednesday, Duffy’s Transportation Department announced it had just approved dozens more infrastructure grants, for a total of 405 grants worth nearly $5 billion so far. The department says it has cleared about 13% of the backlog under former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who served during the Biden administration.
&nbsp;
<h2>Nashville ICE Raids Nab Nearly 200 Illegals</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-920459" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_36_09.Still003.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_36_09.Still003.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_36_09.Still003-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a week of raids in Nashville, Tennessee, arresting nearly 200 illegal aliens and prompting outrage from the city’s Democratic mayor.
A week-long ICE raid in Nashville that started on May 3 captured nearly 200 illegal aliens, many of whom have been convicted of criminal offenses. Of the 196 illegal aliens detained by ICE, 95 had prior criminal convictions or pending charges, and 31 had illegally re-entered the United States after previously being deported.
A Daily Wire investigation found that one of the illegal aliens captured is a 60-year-old Iraqi national who was convicted of rape and failed to register as a sex offender. Another is a 33-year-old from El Salvador believed to be affiliated with MS-13, a violent gang that was recently designated a foreign terror organization by the Trump administration. The government of El Salvador also suspects the man of committing aggravated murder. There’s also a Haitian male convicted of possessing meth with the intent to distribute, a Salvadoran convicted of possessing cocaine with the intent to manufacture and sell the drug, and a Guatemalan national with a conviction for aggravated assault.
Nashville Democratic Mayor Freddie O’Connell said that ICE’s immigration enforcement raids caused “deep community harms” and added that he was “heartbroken” over the federal law enforcement agency’s actions. O’Connell announced the creation of the “belonging fund,” a joint project between the city of Nashville and a local foundation to support organizations that assist illegal aliens with their childcare, transportation, and food needs. The mayor also signed an executive order requiring city employees and police to report any communications with ICE to his office.
But Nashville Legal Director Wally Dietz said that the city government can do nothing to prevent ICE from carrying out enforcement operations in Nashville. “We are powerless. We have absolutely no authority to instruct ICE not to carry out their enforcement actions…we have no authority to tell [Tennessee Highway Patrol] they cannot cooperate with ICE.”
Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, called O’Connell a “pro-open borders politician&#8221; who would “rather protect illegal aliens than American citizens.” O’Connell was also slammed by ICE acting director Todd Lyons, who said that the Nashville mayor should be thanking the federal law enforcement agency for protecting his city.

MRN 5.15.25 Thu Thumbnail_V1

Morning Brief: Budget Battles, Billion-Dollar Bets & ICE Busts

Budget

Department of Transportation

Illegal Immigation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Nashville

On Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confronted the question of whether Elon Musk tried to fire air traffic controllers.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/us/politics/trump-musk-doge-power.html?campaign_id=190&amp;emc=edit_ufn_20250307&amp;instance_id=149417&amp;nl=from-the-times&amp;regi_id=78841373&amp;segment_id=192873&amp;user_id=2c0c856b2ce44b95592cc8015e73caee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> back in March that there was a clash in which Duffy vented about staffers from Musk&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort trying to lay off air traffic controllers at a time when the Transportation Department was dealing with multiple plane crashes. Musk reportedly denied the claim.
&#8220;Did Elon Musk ask you to cut air traffic controllers directly?&#8221; NBC&#8217;s Kristen Welker asked Duffy during a &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/transportation-sec-duffy-says-elon-musk-never-asked-him-to-cut-air-traffic-controllers-239336517927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>.
&#8220;So, listen, we were having a conversation about, &#8216;Who do we preserve?&#8217; And, again, I wanted in those probationary employees to preserve air traffic controllers,&#8221; Duffy said. &#8220;We went back and forth, and Elon agreed, the president agreed. Of course you want to keep air traffic controllers. We&#8217;re trying to hire more of them.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;But I think the key is, &#8216;Can your government be more efficient?&#8217; We&#8217;ve had a massive expansion of government. You can actually be more efficient and still accomplish the mission of safety, which is what I think we can do. And actually, we are doing that.&#8221;
Welker pressed Duffy again.
&#8220;Did Elon Musk, though, initially ask you to cut air traffic controllers?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;No,&#8221; Duffy said.
&#8220;And did you dispute that?&#8221; Welker asked.
&#8220;No,&#8221; Duffy replied.
&#8220;Did you have a disagreement with him about that?&#8221; Welker followed up.
&#8220;So, Elon and I get along really well. He never called me and said, &#8216;Cut air traffic control.&#8217; He would never do that. This was a broader conversation about what positions are going to be preserved, right? So if we&#8217;re going to let probationary employees go, again, they’ve – they&#8217;re new employees. They just were hired on. Some might have been there for a month, some of them 10 months,&#8221; Duffy said.
&#8220;It was the new employees that we were going to let go,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Many of them have come back. But this is not the institutional knowledge of the FAA that&#8217;s being let go. Elon Musk understands the importance of the airspace and the need to have good controllers. Actually, [Musk&#8217;s] SpaceX launches through the airspace and the FAA. We want good controllers that know the airspace to navigate all the issues that come up.&#8221;

Transportation Secretary Clears Air On Whether Elon Tried To Fire Air Traffic Controllers

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Executive

A massive shortage of air traffic controllers causes delays, cancellations, and insecurity. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney discusses tariffs and U.S. statehood with President Donald Trump in an Oval Office meeting, and a surprising rise in Christianity is occurring in the U.S. and Europe, fueled by young converts.
It’s Wednesday, May 7, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Danger in the Sky &amp; Christianity Grows" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/49JS7xAMBh0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/danger-in-the-sky-christianity-grows-5-7-25/id1576594336?i=1000706644476" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>FAA Modernization Efforts</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-916773" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_00_33_14.Still001-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: The Trump administration is rushing to modernize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after years of chronic understaffing and a string of accidents and near misses on runways.
We all heard about the deadly crash in D.C. a few months back when a military helicopter collided with a commercial jet – but every week at airports around the country, there are roughly a dozen close-calls that largely go unreported. These incidents are referred to as “runway incursions” by the FAA.
In the last few months alone, two planes at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were forced to abort landings at the last minute due to a helicopter in restricted airspace. A few weeks before that, at the same airport, two planes clipped wings on a crowded runway. Similar incidents have been reported this year at Chicago Midway, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. And on April 29, air traffic controllers at Newark International experienced a systems outage that knocked out their radar and left numerous planes essentially flying blind. That incident came amid existing air traffic controller shortages and equipment failures at Newark, which have led to 14 straight days of FAA-imposed delays on flights in and out of the airport.
Part of the problem is an ongoing worker shortage – the FAA says it needs 3,500 air traffic controllers to meet its target goal. For months, existing controllers have been stretched thin, working mandatory overtime shifts and six-day work weeks.
To combat those shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched a new initiative to offer new incentives to keep experienced controllers from retiring and fast-track certifications for military veterans. But according to Duffy, the biggest problem plaguing the FAA is outdated technology. Many of the administration’s systems and computers are from the 1980s — many controllers still rely on floppy disks — and because the FAA tech is so old, Duffy says it’s difficult to find technicians who know how to operate on its systems. He’s now calling for Congress to allocate tens of billions of dollars to fund a revolutionary overhaul of the FAA.
Some Democrats say the Trump administration is to blame – they argue the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project&#8217;s cuts have impacted the FAA’s preparedness. While the Trump administration cut around 400 FAA jobs, that amounts to less than 1% of the department’s workforce. According to a Transportation spokesperson, nearly all of those let go were probationary employees who’d been at the agency for less than two years.
<h2>Tariff Updates With Canada, China</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-916771" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_01_37_02.Still004-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: Canada’s new prime minister sits down with Trump after weeks of tough talk on tariffs and Canada becoming the 51st state.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived at the White House on Tuesday for talks on trade, as well as the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Carney is one of dozens of world leaders seeking a new trade agreement with the U.S. Canada is the second-largest trading partner for the U.S., behind Mexico, and the U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner by far.
“We are the largest client in the United States,” Carney said at a joint press conference. “We have a tremendous auto sector between the two of us and the changes we made have been helpful. You know, 50% of a car that comes from Canada is American. That&#8217;s not like anywhere else in the world.”
“We want to make our own cars,” Trump responded.
Meanwhile, another significant U.S. trade partner, China, is starting to feel the impact of ongoing tariffs. According to Goldman Sachs, U.S. tariffs could wipe out 16 million factory jobs in China. Workers are already upset over missed wages and layoffs and have even begun publicly protesting. It’s not clear how much influence this public discontent has on the communist government in Beijing.
A breakthrough in the tariff standoff between the United States and China emerged on Tuesday evening. Treasury Secretary <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0132" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott Bessent</a> and U.S. Trade Representative <a href="https://ustr.gov/about/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2025/may/ambassador-jamieson-greer-travel-switzerland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jamieson Greer</a> are poised to meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland over the weekend to discuss trade and economic matters, according to their respective agencies. China reportedly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/business/economy/us-china-trade-talks.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> there will be talks.
<h2>Christianity On The Rise</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-916777" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_35_10.Still005.jpeg" alt="" width="640" height="360" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_35_10.Still005.jpeg 640w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/SEGMENT-HEADERS.00_02_35_10.Still005-300x169.jpeg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></div>
Topline: A surprising shift is taking place across the religious landscape of both the U.S. and Europe. According to new data, Christianity is seeing a notable rise in conversions, particularly among young adults.
New data from the Pew Research Center shows that Christian identification in the U.S. has seen a 12% uptick since 2022, with Catholicism up 10%. In some dioceses, the rise is much more pronounced. The Diocese of Fort Worth, for instance, reports a 72% jump in converts just from 2023 to 2024. Meanwhile, when we look at Protestantism, particularly evangelical and nondenominational branches, it’s up 14% overall, and many pastors are reporting that they’re seeing record attendance and baptisms.
This same trend is playing out in Europe, with countries like France and Germany reporting a 15% increase in Catholic conversions and a 10% surge in Protestant affiliations, especially among Pentecostals and Baptists. Catholic pilgrimages, like the Chartres Pilgrimage, have seen record attendance — more than 15,000 participants last year, mostly under 35.
The majority of these converts aren’t older generations returning to faith — they&#8217;re young adults, disproportionately young men, reversing decades-long trends where women were more religious. Sociologist Dr. Ryan Burge has written that young men are rejecting the “feminization” of liberal churches, seeking instead the structure of traditional worship.
Sociologists argue that our culture is experiencing a “post-secular” moment – the rapid pace of political developments has left many people feeling unmoored. And also, conservatives tend to be more religious, and as the country has shifted to the right, this has coincided with this more muscular, public Christianity. For countries like France, England, and the U.S., where citizens feel their cultures are being erased by mass immigration, there also seems to be a desire to bolster the Christian character of their nations.

050725_Thumbnail_V1

Morning Brief: Dangerous Air Traffic Controller Shortage, & Christianity Growing Throughout World

Canada

Christianity

Mark Carney

Media

Morning Wire

Earlier Friday, a small plane crashed in Boca Raton, Florida, killing the three people on board and injuring one man on the ground, authorities said.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a Cessna 310R that took off from Boca Raton Airport bound for Tallahassee International Airport and crashed less than 20 minutes into its flight.
All three people aboard the small plane were killed, while one man on the ground sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Michael LaSalle, assistant fire chief for Boca Fire Rescue, said the plane &#8220;had apparently some mechanical issues and went down here on Military Trail.&#8221; He added, &#8220;He hit a tree because of all the debris and the fire.&#8221;
A witness recalled seeing the aircraft flying uncommonly close to nearby buildings, appearing as though it might clip the roof of one structure before it veered off.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JUST IN: A plane has crashed in Boca Raton, Florida resulting in three de*ths, according to local news reports.
The plane was approaching Boca Raton Airport with “mechanical issues,” according to Boca News Now.
Fire rescue was reportedly on “alert” as the plane was nearing the… <a href="https://t.co/ST3oGmOsgv">pic.twitter.com/ST3oGmOsgv</a>
&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1910712201117392996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I saw the plane, basically, turn, come back, and I heard it and saw it go over our building,&#8221; Dillon Smith <a href="https://www.wpbf.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> to local West Palm Beach ABC affiliate WPBF.
Smith describes momentarily losing sight of the plane, but said it then &#8220;came back — it was looking like maybe it was going toward the [nearby Boca Raton] airport.&#8221;
&#8220;I just saw it drop below the trees&#8221; and &#8220;heard a boom,&#8221; Smith said. The office windows shook violently and he saw a &#8220;fireball.”
Footage taken after the incident shows the plane’s wreckage situated on railroad tracks adjacent to a heavily traveled roadway.
The flames ignited by the crash were extinguished by first responders, who arrived on the scene to address both the blaze and assist the injured driver.
Authorities confirmed that the individual in the vehicle was transported to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are <a href="https://x.com/NTSB_Newsroom/status/1910762941743276075">reviewing</a> data from the flight and examining the wreckage to determine why the plane experienced difficulties shortly after taking off.
Local officials have also cordoned off a wide area around the crash site to collect further evidence and ensure there are no additional safety threats.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that a plane crash occurred earlier today within our community. At this time, details are still emerging, and we are working closely with emergency responders and authorities,” Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer <a href="https://apnews.com/article/small-plane-crash-florida-boca-raton-84f2a5d7874a4daaeaafd92d2295b974?taid=67f94feb645bb30001316a84&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">said</a> in a statement. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic event. We ask for patience and respect for the families involved as investigations continue.”

US-NEWS-FLA-BOCA-RATON-PLANE-CRASH-FL

Small Plane Crashes On Busy Florida Road, Killing All Three On Board

Plane Crash

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he would investigate after a report alleged that a top DEI activist offered minority air traffic controller candidates a way to cheat on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) entry exam.
In an audio clip from 2014 obtained by <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14459979/listen-audio-DEI-sharing-answers-air-traffic-control-entry-exam.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_mailonline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a>, Shelton Snow of the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE), who has served as an air traffic operations supervisor based out of New York, was recorded telling prospective hires, “There are some valuable pieces of information that I have taken a screenshot of and I am going to send that to you via email. &#8230; I am about 99.99 percent sure that it is exactly how you need to answer each question.”
A former NBCFAE member, Matthew Douglas, informed The Daily Mail, “I know several people who cheated and I know several people who are controlling planes as we speak.”
“The inside info was made available in 2014 to African Americans, females, and other minority candidates – but whites were left out of the loop to &#8216;minimize competition,’&#8221; the news outlet added.
“I am launching a full investigation into the DEI hiring allegations at the FAA immediately. If true, swift accountability will come for those responsible. We need the best and brightest, not buzzword, DEI hires,” Duffy stated on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I am launching a full investigation into the DEI hiring allegations at the FAA immediately.
If true, swift accountability will come for those responsible. We need the best and brightest, not buzzword, DEI hires. <a href="https://t.co/CTW75umVb5">https://t.co/CTW75umVb5</a>
&mdash; Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDuffy/status/1900211640525873380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
“Until 2013, the FAA gave hiring preference to controller applicants who earned a degree from one of its Collegiate Training Initiative schools and scored high enough on an eight-hour screening test called the Air Traffic Selection and Training exam, or AT-SAT, which measures cognitive skills. The Obama administration, however, determined that the process excluded too many from minority groups,” Jason Riley of the Manhattan Institute <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/affirmative-action-lands-in-the-air-traffic-control-tower">commented</a> in 2015.
By 2014, the FAA started using a biographical questionnaire to test prospective candidates, with questions such as, “How many sports did you play in high school?” and “What has been the major cause of your failures?”
Referring to the 2014 entry test, The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14399413/FAA-air-traffic-control-hiring-process-quiz-DEI-targets.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, “A job questionnaire for aspiring air traffic controllers introduced by the Obama administration was designed to meet secret DEI target numbers.”
Within days of his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ends-dei-madness-and-restores-excellence-and-safety-within-the-federal-aviation-administration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive memorandum</a> “terminating a Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency.”

Sec. Duffy Speaks On NTSB Report On The Mid-Air Collision Near National Airport

Transportation Sec Duffy Looking Into Whether DEI Activist Helped Minorities Cheat On FAA Entry Exam

cheating

Social Issues

Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink satellite internet service has emerged as a potential solution for the Federal Aviation Administration&#8217;s aging air traffic control systems, with the agency testing the technology even as Democratic lawmakers raised conflict of interest concerns.
Starlink’s internet terminals are being <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/starlink-faa-contract-elon-musk-conflict-of-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tested</a> at multiple FAA sites for a possible air traffic control upgrade, according to CBS News.
Starlink appears poised to take over the $2 billion contract given to telecom provider Verizon in 2023, with Verizon tasked with implementing fiber optic cables to replace the aging, ground-based communications system currently in place.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has confirmed that the agency is reviewing various proposals, but said no final decisions have been made.
Earlier this week, Elon Musk criticized the existing air traffic control network, posting on X that the “Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.”
Soon after, he clarified that the “ancient system” he was referring to was created by defense contractor L3Harris and that Verizon’s new replacement technology is “not yet operational.”
Verizon spokesman Kevin Israel told reporters that the company is “working on building the next generation system for the FAA,” adding that they are “at the beginning of a multiyear contract to replace antiquated, legacy systems.”
Bloomberg News reported that Musk recently approved the shipment of 4,000 Starlink terminals to the FAA for potential testing, citing an individual familiar with the matter.
Some Democrats are concerned that this represents a conflict of interest for the administration, as Musk is heavily involved in the administration and donated more than a quarter billion dollars to the Trump 2024 campaign.
“How much richer will Elon get with an FAA contract to another one of his companies? My ELON MUSK Act would stop this blatant corruption,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) wrote on X.
However, the FAA clarified in a Monday statement that they have been testing Starlink satellites “since the prior administration to increase reliability at remote sites.”

In this photo illustration a Starlink logo of a satellite

FAA Tests Musk’s Starlink Satellites For Air Traffic Control Upgrades

SpaceX

Technology

It&#8217;s not easy to find a lot of people who are willing to go back and revisit the early days of Barack Obama&#8217;s presidency. Conservatives don&#8217;t want to relive the whole nightmare, for obvious reasons. And for their part, Democrats would rather move on, too. They don&#8217;t particularly want to dwell on Obama&#8217;s &#8220;Russian reset,&#8221; for example, where he told us that Vladimir Putin wasn&#8217;t really a bad guy. That kind of thinking isn&#8217;t exactly compatible with Democrats&#8217; current narrative. Nor are Democrats interested in reminding anyone of Obama&#8217;s promise to lower healthcare costs, or his promise to close Guantanamo Bay, or his promise to stop the weather from changing, and so on. So if there&#8217;s bipartisan agreement on anything, it&#8217;s that Obama&#8217;s presidency isn&#8217;t worth talking about anymore.
But there is one moment from the early Obama years that&#8217;s suddenly become relevant again. I&#8217;m talking about the crash of a Colgan Air passenger plane, which was flying under the brand name of Continental Airlines. The crash occurred in February of 2009, just a month after Obama&#8217;s inauguration. It was the fourth in a string of crashes involving regional airliners from 2005 to 2009. 50 people died, including one person on the ground. An investigation revealed that the pilots — one man and one woman — were overworked and underpaid. They were also objectively bad pilots, at least on that particular night. They weren&#8217;t paying attention to their instruments, to the point that they stalled their plane while on approach for landing. And then, when the aircraft warned them of the stall, they panicked and turned a bad situation into a catastrophe.
In the wake of that crash, the Obama administration mandated a series of changes that, taken together, amount to a major overhaul of the entire aviation industry. One of the big changes was that all pilots — whether they flew for a regional carrier or a major airline — needed to have hundreds of hours of additional training before they could be certified. Pilots were also entitled to more rest breaks. There were several other new regulations, too. And for the most part, no one objected. It was a pretty uncontroversial move. After all, when planes are crashing all over the place, it makes sense to require better training and more rest for the pilots.
But all of these new regulations created a new problem. Airlines that were already struggling with a pilot shortage began having even more difficulty finding enough pilots to fly their routes. In an industry that was concerned with safety, the solution to this problem is obvious: you can either raise salaries to attract more pilots, or you can cut down on flights. But the aviation industry, with the encouragement of the Obama administration, decided on a different approach: They began appealing to so-called &#8220;diverse&#8221; applicants and adopted a much more lax, carefree workplace culture. Just like the FAA, which lowered standards to attract different demographics, airlines created programs to attract women and racial minorities. Then, after the COVID mandates decimated the aviation industry like so many others, these efforts went into overdrive.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1540-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
The defenders of these diversity initiatives insisted that standards weren&#8217;t being compromised. They argued that the pool of applicants was being expanded, but that all pilots were still competent. They maintained that line of argument even after an Amazon cargo plane operated by Atlas Air crashed in 2019 while landing in Houston, when the pilot inexplicably steered the plane directly into the water. An investigation revealed that the pilot, a man from the Caribbean nation of Antigua named Conrad Aska, had repeatedly failed flight training, but was promoted anyway. His family even sued Amazon, alleging that Conrad Aska never should&#8217;ve been allowed into the cockpit, based on his sheer incompetence. But both Amazon and Atlas Air — which repeatedly preached about the importance of diversity — had no problem handing Conrad Aska the keys to a wide-body Boeing cargo plane.
The defenders of diversity initiatives also downplayed the crash of Southwest Airlines Flight 345, which suffered a landing-gear collapse while landing at La Guardia in 2013. The whole plane was totaled; it was a $15 million loss. Several people were seriously injured. This is a crash you probably haven&#8217;t heard much about, even though given recent events, it&#8217;s once again very relevant. 
This is footage taken by a passenger onboard Southwest Flight 345. It shows the moment the front landing gear collapsed as soon as the plane touched the ground after a very rapid descent. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 LaGuardia crash" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MiQT0nJtQ30?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
An investigation revealed that the captain of this flight was a woman who had multiple complaints filed against her by her co-pilots. In this instance, she allowed the plane to descend rapidly towards the ground without properly configuring the flaps for landing. And then, when she knew the plane was going too fast, she didn&#8217;t abort the landing. Instead, she ordered the first officer to &#8220;get down,&#8221; and then she aggressively took control of the plane herself and flew it, nose-first, into the runway.
So how was a pilot this incompetent allowed to serve as a captain ferrying passengers around on a jetliner? A few weeks ago, I received a tip from a pilot at Southwest who told me that this particular captain was notorious for inappropriate and dangerous behavior in the cockpit. A lot of pilots didn&#8217;t want to fly with her. The captain, for her part, thought the complaints were really about her gender or her sexuality, instead of her competence. And apparently, Southwest agreed.
This was not a widely reported episode, for the simple reason that it&#8217;s extremely inconvenient to proponents of so-called &#8220;diversity&#8221; in aviation. We&#8217;re required to believe that diversity improves the functioning of every organization, whether it&#8217;s Harvard University or Southwest Airlines. So most media outlets buried the story. They kept the identity of the woman pilot confidential, even after Southwest finally terminated her employment following the crash. Very few news reports mentioned her gender at all, or any other identifying information about her. They did the same thing with Conrad Aska and many other pilots. They just didn&#8217;t talk about them.
For a while, this strategy worked. Diversity initiatives continued for many years without any interruption, across all major airlines. But the problem, of course, is that you can&#8217;t downplay airline crashes forever. Eventually the crashes become more noticeable. Eventually people start dying, and not just in cargo planes. And at that point — which is the point we&#8217;ve now reached — the toll of diversity becomes harder and harder to deny. And then people will do the rational thing. They&#8217;ll start looking more closely at what exactly is going on in the aviation industry. And in particular, they&#8217;ll start looking at who exactly is flying the aircraft that keep crashing.
First, of course, there was the disastrous mid-air collision that was apparently caused, at least in part, by a female Black Hawk pilot near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. This pilot was clearly flying too high, for reasons that aren&#8217;t clear. She also failed to see a jet that was directly in her path. Based on the most recent <a href="https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Documents/Feb.14.2025_Briefing_Mid-air_Collision%20near%20DCA.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">information</a> we have from the NTSB, it&#8217;s clear that, about three minutes before the collision, the Black Hawk pilot was warned by her instructor that she was flying 100 feet too high for the area they were flying in. She was also warned about the passenger jet by air traffic control, which also provided the passenger jet&#8217;s location, well over a minute before impact. But she never took any evasive action whatsoever. The pilots of the American Airlines plane put their plane into a maximum nose-up climb just one second before impact, so clearly they eventually saw something. But the woman flying the Black Hawk never did.
Then, earlier this week, we all witnessed the Endeavor Air crash at Toronto&#8217;s airport.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨 JUST IN: Delta Air Lines is now offering a $30,000 payoff to victims of their plane crash, just two days after it occurred
Are they trying to pay people off to get ahead of the impending DEI pilot revelations?
Delta &amp; operator Endeavor, famous for their “all female crews,”… <a href="https://t.co/HBtEVXtxoH">pic.twitter.com/HBtEVXtxoH</a>
&mdash; Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1892355772580806811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The plane clearly came in too quickly, just like the Southwest Airlines jet that I mentioned earlier. And then the landing gear collapsed and the plane flipped over. Based on air traffic control audio, it appears that one pilot — the one who was presumably handling the radios, instead of flying the plane — was a male. But we still don&#8217;t have the identity of the pilot who was actually flying the plane. Reports from various sources online, citing tips from airline pilots and firefighters at Toronto&#8217;s airport, suggest that the pilot who was flying was a woman. But we don&#8217;t know for sure because no one in the government, or at Delta Airlines, will tell us.
If it&#8217;s true, that wouldn&#8217;t exactly be a surprise. Endeavor Air and Delta have gone out of their way in recent years to advertise how many female pilots they have. They&#8217;ve also done a full-court press to attract more female applicants. In fact, as you may have seen, Endeavor&#8217;s official TikTok and X accounts are obsessed with the idea of so-called &#8220;unmanned flights,&#8221; where no men are in the crew. So they&#8217;re not just pro-women; they&#8217;re actively anti-men. And if I&#8217;m being honest, whoever&#8217;s putting together Endeavor&#8217;s social media posts seems to have a sense of humor about the situation. Here for example is one recent tweet from Endeavor:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, your flight is unmanned today. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/girlpower?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girlpower</a>
📸: Caitlyn M., FO, CRJ-900 <a href="https://t.co/vL7ec2P3fX">pic.twitter.com/vL7ec2P3fX</a>
&mdash; Endeavor Air (@EndeavorAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndeavorAir/status/1533886722286788610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
On the surface, I guess this is supposed to be an empowering, girlboss message. If that&#8217;s the case, then why does it begin with the warning, &#8220;Buckle up&#8221;? It&#8217;s like going to a restaurant where they tell you, &#8220;Enjoy your food presented by an all-female kitchen. Hope you brought a bucket!” It&#8217;s almost like whoever&#8217;s writing this post knows something we don&#8217;t. 
And then there&#8217;s this now-infamous TikTok footage from Endeavor Air, featuring a few more girlbosses. Some of these clips are so on-the-nose that it seems like they were prepared by a male intern somewhere who&#8217;s tired of all the DEI initiatives, and he was trying to find some desperate way to communicate that message without losing his internship in the process. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Endeavor women" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nQXNKZObNus?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Yes, the lyrics there are, &#8220;Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.&#8221; That&#8217;s what you hear after you read the caption, &#8220;Leave the flying to the men? I don&#8217;t think so.&#8221; Again, this is the official messaging of an airline that&#8217;s supposedly committed to safety and competence. They want you to know that you&#8217;ll have an all-female flight crew that loves to &#8220;live fast and die young.” That is just about the worst possible mantra for an airline pilot.
When I looked at the rest of Endeavor&#8217;s TikTok account, I found that these clips are not rare exceptions to the norm. Quite the opposite. Pretty much every single post involves women dancing or miming the words to a song of some kind. It&#8217;s like a sorority&#8217;s TikTok channel, instead of the official social media account of a company that&#8217;s responsible for ferrying thousands of passengers across the sky at high speeds in aluminum tubes every single day.
Here&#8217;s just a small selection of what I&#8217;m talking about:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 Endeavor TikToks" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q94keOak1gQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
It&#8217;s like they&#8217;re running an adult daycare. They&#8217;re not even pretending to convey the idea that they&#8217;re serious people who should be entrusted with your life.
The description for Endeavor Air&#8217;s account on TikTok reads, &#8220;CR-slay everyday&#8221; — which I assume is a reference to the CRJ aircraft that they fly. This is how you would present your company if you wanted to attract the ditziest, least responsible and least intelligent applicants imaginable. And based on recent events, it seems like that&#8217;s exactly what Endeavor got.
But as easy as it would be to blame this on Endeavor, which is a relatively small subsidiary of Delta, the truth is that this is a much deeper problem. It goes to the top. And to illustrate that, here&#8217;s footage from the pinned tweet of Delta Airlines&#8217; main account at the time of the Endeavor Air crash. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 Delta slay" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zyb1SUAG7Vk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
So this whole &#8220;slay&#8221; concept is apparently a big deal at both Endeavor and Delta. They think it&#8217;s a really important message to communicate. They&#8217;re girlbosses who &#8220;slay.&#8221; Of course, &#8220;slay&#8221; means &#8220;to kill.&#8221; And that&#8217;s what you can expect to happen now when you board these planes, evidently. They&#8217;ll slay you. With their flying skills.
As painful as this footage is, I will give Delta some credit. Yesterday, in an interview with CBS, Delta&#8217;s CEO was given an opportunity to blame Donald Trump for the crash in Toronto. Yes, the corporate press is going with the narrative that Donald Trump is responsible for a pilot&#8217;s terrible crash landing in a foreign country. And in response to this setup, the Delta CEO immediately shot the question down, which led to a pretty entertaining facial expression from the CBS anchor. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="009 Delta trump CBS" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZYUEHi_F0gQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Notice there&#8217;s no question from CBS about the identity of the pilot, or her qualifications, or whether Endeavor regrets posting nonstop music video TikToks for the past five years. Instead the question is about how Donald Trump is to blame. This has been the approach of so many establishment interests ever since the aviation industry began experiencing a series of crashes more than a decade ago. They deflect and they minimize responsibility, all while insisting that the underlying system is working fine.
But with every major airline disaster, these deflections become less and less effective. The more they hide information about who&#8217;s flying these planes, the more people will come to realize what&#8217;s actually going on. And at a certain point — a point that&#8217;s rapidly approaching — no one will fly on a plane unless they know who&#8217;s flying it. People will demand thorough reviews of pilots, like they demand reviews of restaurants before making a reservation. That won&#8217;t be a sustainable model for most airlines. But for people who want to fly with some peace of mind — free from the complete and total incompetence that Obama-era diversity initiatives have wrought, so many years later— it&#8217;ll be the only option worth considering.

Pensive dark-haired woman co-pilot seated in the cockpit

Girlbossing The Airline Industry — Straight Into The Ground

Airlines

Delta Airlines

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Matt Walsh

Obama Administration

Opinion

Southwest Airlines

Women

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian pushed back this week on claims from the political Left that President Donald Trump&#8217;s cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will impact air travel safety.
The comments from Bastian come after one of Delta&#8217;s planes was involved in an accident in Toronto this week during landing. The plane&#8217;s rear landing gear snapped upon impact, causing the plane&#8217;s wing to clip the ground and the jetliner to flip over.
Bastian appeared on &#8220;CBS Mornings&#8221; on Wednesday to address the recent plane crash at Toronto-Pearson International Airport, where a Delta flight from Minneapolis overturned while landing at the Canadian airport.
&#8220;Do those cuts worry you and do you think that impacts safety?&#8221; CBS News host Gayle King asked Bastian on &#8220;CBS Mornings.&#8221; &#8220;Do these cuts affect you?&#8221;
&#8220;The cuts do not affect us, Gayle,&#8221; Bastian responded. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been in close communication with the Secretary of Transportation. I understand that the cuts at this time are something that are raising questions, but the reality is there&#8217;s over 50,000 people that work at the FAA. And the cuts, I understand, were 300 people, and they were in non-critical safety functions.&#8221;
&#8220;The Trump administration has committed to investing deeply in terms of improving the overall technologies that are used in the air traffic control systems and modernizing the skies,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;They&#8217;ve committed to hiring additional controllers and investigators, and safety investigators. So no, I&#8217;m not concerned with that at all.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
CBS&#8217;s Gayle King tries to blame Trump for the plane crashes, is debunked by Delta&#8217;s CEO <a href="https://t.co/P9m5SxYKOQ">pic.twitter.com/P9m5SxYKOQ</a>
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1892275303889719529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
Bastian said that the crew responded appropriately to the accident, which pilots continuously train to be prepared for.
“This is what we train for,” Bastian insisted. “We train for this continuously.”
He added that despite the accident last month in Washington, D.C., and some smaller crashes since then, flying remains “the safest form of transportation, period.”

Utah Scenics

Delta’s CEO Pushes Back On Claims That Cuts To FAA Will Impact Safety Of Air Travel

Airplane crash

Menu