Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, the ranking member on the Senate's aviation subcommittee, is demanding the Transportation Department expand its $10,000 bonus to all air traffic controllers and FAA technicians who worked without pay during the government shutdown. The department said it would give the bonuses only to those who did not miss a day of work during the 44-day shutdown .

"Excluding 96 percent of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Controller and Technician workforce from this bonus is unfair, divisive and disrespectful to the over 20,000 dedicated Federal employees who worked under extremely stressful conditions to ensure our Nation Airspace System (NAS) was safe during the 2025 shutdown," Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth wrote in a lett

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