IRS staff laid off; flights grounded amid funding lapse

The Internal Revenue Service furloughed thousands of employees due to the week-long government funding lapse, according to a Wednesday statement. Americans should expect longer wait times for service and delays in implementing tax code changes as the shutdown continues, the IRS said. Taxpayers in the lurch since the furloughs happened about a week before the deadline to request a tax filing extension, tax officials added. Essential employees are in the dark about their employment status, and this is not how the government should treat nonpartisan public workers, the IRS said.

Airline delays: Flight delays mounted on Wednesday as airports and call towers suffered worker shortages from the shutdown. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport as closed, along with Boston’s General Edward Lawrence Logan International, and San Francisco’s Redding Regional Airport. In Florida, both Daytona Beach and Palm Beach International Airports were closed, the FAA reported Wednesday.

The Transportation Security Administration saw a slight increase in air traffic controllers calling in sick since last week’s shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a Monday press conference. Duffy insisted that the skies were safe and that, if staffing reached an unsafe level, planes would not be allowed to fly. Airline data showed over 6,100 U.S. flights delayed on Monday, 3,800 more on Tuesday, and about 2,500 by mid-day Wednesday.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association called on aviation workers to continue delivering their important public services to the American people despite the uncertainty. Air traffic controllers and aviation safety professionals have a serious responsibility to protect the flying public’s safety, according to the union statement.

So what's the deal with backpay for employees? Speaker of the House Mike Johnson commented Tuesday that furloughed workers may not receive back pay due to a new interpretation of the law. Johnson acknowledged the precedent of backpay for furloughed workers, but claimed some legal analysts viewed the policy as inappropriate.

A swath of politicians pushed back on the possible backpay policy change, with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., calling attention to the 2019 legislation protecting federal backpay. President Donald Trump signed that protection into law and now he’s trying to go back on it, Kaine argued in a Tuesday video statement. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also cited the 2019 protection in a Tuesday statement. The Trump administration's consideration of withholding backpay from employees is just more fear mongering from a lawless president, he argued.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report for more background on the legislative impasse triggering the shutdown.