How many employees were laid off from the FAA due to DOGE budget cuts?
In February 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) laid off approximately 400 employees as part of federal workforce reductions initiated by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). These layoffs primarily targeted probationary employees—those with less than one year of service—and included roles such as maintenance mechanics, aeronautical information specialists, aviation safety assistants, and administrative staff. Although the Department of Transportation stated that no air traffic controllers or critical safety personnel were affected, unions and aviation experts expressed concern that the terminations impacted essential support roles necessary for maintaining aviation safety.
Subsequently, a federal judge ruled that the mass firings violated regulations due to the absence of individual performance assessments. As a result, the FAA reinstated 132 of the laid-off probationary employees, providing them with back pay and returning them to their positions in March 2025.
Did any of these cuts have an impact on the current delays at Newark Airport?
Staffing shortages have played a role in the ongoing delays at Newark Liberty International Airport, though it remains unclear whether these shortages are related to the DOGE budget cuts or whether they are related to broader factors. The delays are most directly caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers, ongoing runway construction, and challenges posed by outdated technology. In addition, a reported walkout by more than 20% of the airport’s assigned air traffic controllers has further strained operations.
Did more than 20% of Newark’s air traffic controllers walk off the job?
The assertion that over 20% of Newark Liberty International Airport's air traffic controllers "walked off the job" is a mischaracterization of the situation. According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the controllers did not engage in an unauthorized walkout but instead took authorized leave under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act. This leave was prompted by a traumatic incident on April 28, 2025, when a burnt copper wire caused a 90-second outage in radar and communication systems, leaving controllers unable to see or communicate with aircraft—a situation that qualifies as traumatic under federal guidelines.
How has United Airlines responded to the problem at Newark Airport?
United Airlines has taken decisive action in response to the ongoing operational challenges at Newark Liberty International Airport. Citing severe staffing shortages and repeated failures in the FAA’s air traffic control systems, United announced the cancellation of 35 daily round-trip flights from Newark, effective the weekend of May 3, 2025. This reduction represents approximately 10% of the airline's operations at the airport, which is a major hub for the airline.
In a letter to customers, United CEO Scott Kirby expressed that the airline had "no other choice in order to protect our customers." He relayed that he had spoken with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and is optimistic about the plan that the new administration has put together—a proposal for a large, systemwide investment in FAA technology, infrastructure, and staffing.
What has Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said about the Newark Airport air traffic problem?
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has acknowledged the severe air traffic control issues at Newark Liberty International Airport, describing them as indicative of broader systemic challenges within the nation's aviation infrastructure. “You’re starting to see cracks in the system,” Duffy said in a press conference last Thursday. “It‘s our job to actually see over the horizon what the issues are and fix it before there is an incident that we will seriously regret.”
In response to the staffing shortages and technological failures contributing to the disruptions at Newark, Secretary Duffy announced a comprehensive initiative aimed at bolstering the air traffic control workforce and modernizing the FAA's infrastructure. Key components of this plan include:
- Hiring 2,000 new air traffic controller trainees in 2025.
- Offering financial incentives such as $5,000 bonuses for academy graduates and $10,000 for those assigned to hard-to-staff facilities.
- Providing a 20% lump-sum payment to retirement-eligible controllers under the age of 56 who choose to continue working.
- Streamlining the hiring process by reducing it from eight steps to five, thereby accelerating the onboarding of qualified candidates.
Additionally, Secretary Duffy has proposed a significant investment in modernizing the FAA's aging technology infrastructure, including upgrades to radar systems, communication equipment, and ground sensors.
How is Secretary Sean Duffy securing the funding to invest in FAA technology, infrastructure, and staffing?
On April 30, 2025, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a budget reconciliation proposal allocating $12.5 billion through 2029 to modernize the nation's air traffic control (ATC) system. This funding aims to replace aging Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facilities, including air traffic control towers, radar systems, and telecommunications infrastructure, as well as to address staffing shortages by hiring additional air traffic controllers. The original proposal earmarked $15 billion for these initiatives, but the amount was reduced due to adjustments in the bill's revenue provisions, such as the elimination of a proposed national vehicle fee.
Have Democrats blamed the Trump administration for the problems at Newark Airport?
No, Democratic leaders have not explicitly blamed the Trump administration for the recent air traffic control issues at Newark Liberty International Airport, though they have highlighted longstanding systemic problems and recent budget cuts as contributing factors.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has called for an investigation into the flight disruptions at Newark, attributing them to outdated air traffic control technology and a shortage of controllers.
Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy described the delays as "completely and utterly unacceptable" and expressed confidence in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's commitment to hiring more air traffic controllers.
In a separate incident involving a runway collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in April, Democratic Representatives Gregory Meeks and Josh Gottheimer criticized recent aviation budget cuts associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative linked to cost-cutting measures. They argued that such cuts weaken public safety and underscored the urgent need for increased FAA funding.
While these statements do not directly assign blame to the Trump administration for the Newark disruptions, they reflect broader concerns among Democratic leaders about the impact of budgetary decisions and staffing shortages on the nation's air traffic control system.
Kristina Becvar is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and executive director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
image of U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed on a digital billboard in Times Square in New York on April 8, 2026.
Trump is stuck between two realities. Neither serves the American people
Normally, I worry that events may overtake a column. But not so with the Iran war.
I don’t worry about running afoul of a headline or Truth Social post from the president because what is said about the situation is no longer very relevant to the reality.
On April 8, Nick Catoggio, my Dispatch colleague, dubbed an earlier stoppage with Iran “Schrödinger’s ceasefire.” This was a reference to the famous thought experiment by the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who was trying to explain the weirdness of “superpositionality” in quantum physics. A cat in a box is both dead and alive at the same time until you open the box. Schrödinger meant to illustrate the absurdity of the idea that particles aren’t any one thing, but a “cloud of probabilities.”
The Trump administration is stuck in a word cloud of probabilities of his own making. The war is over. The war is on. The war isn’t a war. We have a deal, but we don’t have a deal, but we’re about to have a deal. We destroyed Iran’s military. No, we left it intact. We want regime change. No we don’t. We already accomplished it. We “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program a year ago. We had to go to war in February to prevent nuclear war. The Strait of Hormuz is open, closed, or something in-between. No deal without “unconditional surrender.” Let’s make a deal!
This everything-all-at-once vibe can be disorienting, particularly since most Americans didn’t have a war with Iran on their bingo cards until the shooting had already started. President Trump didn’t prepare the country or consult with Congress beforehand because he thought it would all be a smashing success in a matter of weeks.
The miscalculation that started it all: killing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and much of Iran’s senior leadership, on the first day of the war. To “the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump announced on Feb. 28. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
I support regime change in Iran and shed no tears for Khamenei or his goons. But when you start a war by killing the regime’s top leaders, it’s not unreasonable for the remaining ones to conclude that you really intend regime change.
Khamenei was a murderous fanatic, but he was a fairly cautious one. He liked to threaten closing the Strait of Hormuz or attacking our regional allies, but he was reluctant to actually do it, fearing it would invite a regime change war. The mullahs and IRGC goons believed, not unreasonably, that if they lost their grip on power, they’d be lynched by the Iranian people they’ve brutalized for decades.
By starting with a regime change war, Trump removed any reason for the regime not to go for broke. When you have nothing to lose — particularly when you are a millenarian religious fanatic — a Persian Alamo strategy makes a lot of sense.
So Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and attacked its neighbors.
But it turns out this wasn’t the Alamo. In the contest of wills, Trump blinked. The Iranian regime’s tolerance for punishment proved — so far — to be greater than Trump’s and that of our gulf allies. Militarily we could finish the job, but that would require ground troops and much greater economic turmoil. In a conflict Trump launched unilaterally without the prior support of Congress, NATO or the American people, Trump doesn’t have the political capital for that.
But that’s only half the problem. Trump wants the war over, but he doesn’t want to pay — militarily, economically, politically — what that would cost. So he wants to make a deal that ends it. But there is no deal available that wouldn’t come at an equally undesirable cost. Any deal that looks like what President Obama struck with the Iranians would be too embarrassing to bear. But the Iranians are convinced that they can get just such a deal, and they’re willing to drag things out as long as it takes.
The result: Trump’s in a box of his own making. He thinks he can talk his way out by simply asserting a reality that doesn’t exist. When the financial markets get nervous, he announces a breakthrough that is, at best, a possibility. When the Iranians agree to a deal that looks similar to one Obama might negotiate, Trump goes back to his threats.
It can’t go on forever. But I’m sure it’ll last until long after this column is forgotten.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.