Chris Sununu told Newsmax on Monday that repeated funding disputes in Washington are turning government shutdowns into a "norm," warning that the trend is dangerous as the Department of Homeland Security shutdown continues to disrupt air travel.
Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire and now president and CEO of Airlines for America, said on "Bianca Across the Nation" that airport conditions were beginning to improve after President Donald Trump directed DHS to use available funds to pay Transportation Security Administration workers.
"We're incredibly grateful to the president, right? He signed the executive order saying TSA agents are going to get paid out of additional funds," Sununu said. "And his action has really allowed things to start to come back into normal, at least today."
He said some TSA workers had already received pay, with more payments still being processed.
"And some of those paychecks did hit bank accounts last night for those TSA agents," he said. "A few more will hit today.
"And it looks like there's two full pay periods in most of those paychecks. So that's very exciting, folks."
The White House said nearly 500 transportation security officers left their jobs during the shutdown and thousands more called in sick. DHS said TSA workers had gone unpaid for the third time in nearly six months.
The shutdown reached 44 days on Monday, though airport bottlenecks eased as officers began receiving partial back pay.
Sununu said conditions at security checkpoints were improving after long lines became a visible sign of the disruption.
"And already we're seeing we see those lines that we're looking at right now, but we're already seeing maybe some of the 15 hot spots or more like six or seven or eight hot spots today," he said. "And our sense is over the next day or two that all transitions back to something, quote-unquote, back to normal."
He also warned that repeated shutdowns risk becoming routine if Congress does not act.
"Yes, you got to come back in. You have to make sure government is funded," Sununu said. "It's bad enough you guys don't balance your budgets.
"It's bad enough that you borrow money from China to pay for all this wasted programs, but it's minimum value. You have to fund government."
"And so our fear is that this is the norm, right?" he added. "This is our second major shutdown in six months.
"Are we going to see it again in September? That's when the next big surge of appropriations and the budget really comes up. Are we going to see it then?"
Congress remained deadlocked over DHS funding after the Senate passed one measure and the House advanced a separate short-term plan, leaving no final resolution.
Sununu said that uncertainty makes repeated shutdown brinkmanship especially damaging for the aviation system, which depends on stable staffing and public confidence.
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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