FLIGHT-MARE BEGINS: Over 700 departures ALREADY canceled across US as Trump steps in to end the shutdown

November 7, 2025

FROM DAILY MAIL: Airports across the United States started cutting back on thousands of flights early Friday after the record-long government shutdown caused staffing shortages.

Airlines scrambled to meet demands and began canceling flights overnight in anticipation of the FAA’s order, while travelers with bookings this weekend waited anxiously to learn whether they would take off on time.

More than 780 flights scheduled for today have already been called off nationwide, according to FlightAware, and many more are expected to be scrapped.

(See list of affected airports below.)

President Donald Trump is reportedly pressuring Republicans to get the government back up and running. During a breakfast meeting at the White House on Wednesday, he told GOP senators that “we must get the government back open soon and really immediately.”

Trump has encouraged a so-called “nuclear option” that would eliminate the filibuster and allow the GOP to reopen the government with a simple majority. Going that route, they would not need Democrat votes. But party leaders like Senate Majority Leader John Thune have rejected that option.

Thune now says Republicans may have a plan to get Democrats on board. If so, it would end the longest shutdown in US history at over 37 days, the Daily Mail notes.

Fox News reports that there is hope that the “political ice which has frozen lawmakers and closed the government for 37 days is softening.”

From Fox:

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are skittish about the shutdown. They’re agonizing about aviation. There’s increasing worry among bipartisan lawmakers about federal workers not getting paid and the cessation of emergency food benefits known as SNAP. Everyone wants a deal. However, no one knows where to find one.

[…]

Republicans have long known that the House-passed interim spending bill (from September 19) simply doesn’t work anymore. Even if the Senate were to align with the House, that legislation only funds the government through November 21. And that would deposit Congress right back where it started on October 1 with a shutdown.

[…]

Republicans are challenging Democrats to block a test vote on a new gambit which would fund the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects, the Department of Agriculture and Congress itself. That represents three of the 12 federal spending areas which Congress must approve each year. This plan would fund those three sectors until September 30, 2026. Lawmakers would attach another Band-Aid spending bill for the rest of the government until late January. But it was unclear if Democrats would go along.

[…]

The plan could include an agreement to hold a vote by a particular date in the future related to healthcare subsidies. That’s the Democrats’ key request. But Democrats want more: a guarantee that Congress will offset spiking ObamaCare costs.

“I’m optimistic that we should get something done this week,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. “I think there’s a path forward here.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. told FOX Business on Wednesday,”There’s been a group working in a very strong bipartisan manner, saying once this election is over, we’re going to reopen. And then today, they came back with some of the most ridiculous demands to take authority away from President Trump – wanting us as a Senate to guarantee what the House can and can’t do. And it’s just not feasible.”

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Said “I’m less optimistic this morning than I was yesterday. What I understand is that Chuck Schumer has pulled them back from that and that they’re being instructed and told they can’t go there.”

Democrats are further emboldened by Tuesday’s election results, which delivered several major wins for the party.

“There is no reason to surrender now. Every reason to stand firm,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “The message of Tuesday simply confirms what we’ve been hearing again and again and again.”

Fox News reports that any agreement will be “about the math,” but that lawmakers “are locked in this shutdown box and can’t find the combination to escape.”

Meanwhile, Americans are going without paychecks or taking side jobs, a situation that is creating frustration across the nation and chaos at the airports.

Here is a full list of the airports that will see thousands of flights cancelled starting Friday: