WASHINGTON ‒ One month into the federal government shutdown, United, Delta, American and Southwest airlines are each calling on Congress to approve a Republican-backed “clean” funding bill to reopen the government.

The Oct. 30 statements from the nation’s four largest airlines came on the same day as a White House meeting between leaders in the aviation industry and Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

“It has been 30 days – I also think it is time to pass a clean CR,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said to reporters after the meeting, adding that Congress should negotiate other policy items such as health care after the shutdown is over.

The airlines’ endorsements could ramp up pressure on Senate Democrats, who have voted 13 times to block a Republican-backed continuing resolution to fund the government as they push for policy changes to health care.

Vance and Duffy warned the situation at airports could be a “disaster” if the government remains closed ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday due to potential staffing shortages during a period when travel typically spikes across the nation.

"What happens when the security lines are not an hour long, but they’re four hours long?" Vance said to reporters following the meeting. "What happens when pilots start not showing up to work?”

Delta Airlines, in its statement, said the company “implores Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government” so that air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration workers and other federal employees who work in aviation are paid.

About 64,000 TSA employees and 13,000 air traffic controllers ‒ considered "essential" workers ‒ are working without pay during the shutdown. TSA employees missed their first full paycheck on Oct. 24, while air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks on Tuesday. They would miss a second paycheck in November if the shutdown is still going on.

“The quickest way to end this shutdown and get these workers paid is by passing a clean continuing resolution (CR),” American Airlines said in a company statement. “A prolonged shutdown will lead to more delays and cancellations ‒ and the American people, especially during the busy holiday season, deserve better.”

Southwest Airlines called for Congress to “immediately resolve its impasse and resume normal government operations.”

“The public expects and deserves to travel in a system in which air traffic controllers and federal safety and security employees are paid in a timely fashion,” the company said. “We ask Congress to adopt a clean continuing resolution.”

The airline companies are taking positions in the shutdown fight one week after four pilot unions also called on Congress to end the stalemate by passing the Republican-backed continuing resolution.

The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, the Allied Pilots Association and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association each issued separate statements urging Congress to pass a "clean" continuing resolution to reopen the government.

The Air Line Pilots Association, the largest pilot union with about 80,000 members, in an Oct. 15 statement called on lawmakers to find a solution to reopen the government, but it did not specify which bill Congress should pass.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 largest US airlines endorse Republican-backed ‘clean’ bill to end government shutdown

Reporting by Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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