Chairman Moran convened the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation to examine how the 43‑day federal government shutdown affected air travel, FAA operations and the aviation workforce. Witnesses described unpaid work, staffing shortfalls and cascading operational effects that they said jeopardized both service reliability and long‑term recruitment.

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Control Association, told senators that controllers “received 1 partial paycheck and $20 paychecks despite working full time” during the shutdown and said the system operates with roughly 10,800 certified professional controllers where there should be about 14,633. “No American should ever be forced to work without a paycheck,” Daniels testified, arguing that the shutdown reduced “the margins of safety that we and the flying public depend on.”

Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America, said carriers and the FAA monitored staffing triggers hourly and that FAA Order No. 1 (issued Nov. 6) set required airspace reductions that initially targeted a 4% reduction and could have risen to 10%. Sununu said cancellations spiked rapidly—“from about a 140 around November 5 to 2,800” in a matter of days—and estimated airlines faced roughly $50 million a day in potential refunds while some analyses put total economic losses in the shutdown at as much as $20 billion.

James Viola of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association described certification and rulemaking interruptions that left manufacturers unable to start new projects and placed about 600 FAA AVS hires in limbo, warning it may take months for the agency to process the backlog. He urged a steady appropriation path so: “we can get back on track” for modernization and for getting new safety‑enhancing technologies certified.

Across questioning, senators on both sides pressed for two outcomes: near‑term funding that ensures FAA continuity in a lapse and a longer term, multiyear commitment to hiring, training and modernization. Senators repeatedly cited Chairman Moran’s Aviation Funding Stability Act, which would allow the FAA to draw on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund during funding lapses, and the subcommittee flagged the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill (THUD) as a necessary vehicle to secure immediate resources for FY2026.

Some senators pressed for more transparency from the FAA about the exact metrics underpinning its emergency order. Ranking Member Duckworth said the public and some committee offices had been unable to obtain the underlying data and asked industry witnesses where they had sourced staffing call‑out and trigger data. Sununu and Daniels said they tracked staffing triggers and callouts hourly and pointed to “close calls” in the field as justification for preventive FAA action.

Witnesses and senators also raised workforce retention and mental‑health supports after committee members referenced controller attrition and two controller deaths connected in testimony to the stress of the shutdown period. Multiple witnesses said they support bipartisan bills to provide pay protections during shutdowns, to fund modernization and to expand training capacity for at least a decade.

The subcommittee concluded with senators entering written submissions into the record and setting deadlines for questions for the record and witness responses. Chairman Moran said committee staff would continue oversight and invited the FAA and DOT leadership to appear at a follow‑up hearing to detail spending and modernization progress.