With Summer Upon Us, Leader Schumer Outlines Trump Administration’s Crusade To Make Summer Travel More Stressful & Expensive For Your Family

With Summer Upon Us, Leader Schumer Outlines Trump Administration’s Crusade To Make Summer Travel More Stressful & Expensive For Your Family

New York, N.Y. – Today, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led Senate Democrats in releasing the following reports detailing how the Trump Tariff Tax and DOGE cuts to critical federal programs across public lands and the FAA have unleashed chaos across the country, making summer plans more expensive and more challenging.

The economic chaos of the Trump administration means nothing is safe – not even American families’ summer plans. Thanks to the Trump tariff tax, and Musk and DOGE cuts and layoffs, everything is going to get more expensive and more stressful for families across the country. Massive DOGE cuts to public lands staff are wreaking havoc on our national parks—and everything from EMTs to campsites are affected, causing headaches for travelers in every state. While major cuts to the FAA have caused public safety concerns and an increase in flight delays. Not even our roads are safe from the chaos, as funding cuts to infrastructure projects mean paused construction. And the trade war has only begun to affect the cost of travel and summer necessities. All while Trump brags about his billionaires getting richer playing the market during his nonsensical trade war.

“Elon Musk has taken a chainsaw to the federal government and it is American families who will pay the price,” said Leader Schumer. “We should not and cannot gamble with our public safety or national security. Yet – the Trump administration has cut federal departments to the bone, making our national parks less protected and our skies less safe. Americans will have to pay more for less, as the price of everything skyrockets due to Donald Trump’s tariff tax – even as government agencies are underwater as DOGE slashes their funding. It’s clear – Republicans are only concerned about their billionaire bankrollers, while Senate Democrats are fighting to expose what these cruel funding and staffing cuts mean for you.”

Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats released the following reports on how the Trump administration cut both public lands and the FAA to the bone.

Public lands, from forests to national parks, are feeling the heat ahead of summer travel. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency fired upwards of 4,500 employees in charge of protecting hundreds of millions of acres of public lands. From wildland firefighters to park EMTs and locksmiths, the dismissal of critical positions will affect public safety. Not only that, but parks are reeling from downsizing, meaning cuts to hours, closure of trails and campsites, and bathrooms and public areas will be less clean. 

And threats to the FAA make our skies less safe. DOGE fired 400 aviation safety specialists tasked with designing flight routes, maintaining air traffic facilities and more. If aviation safety professionals do not have the resources or manpower to ensure the safety of every flight, flights will be delayed or cancelled at an increasing rate. And it’s not just chaos at the airport, this is dangerous to national security. The firings even hit employees who work on the National Airspace System Defense Programs, a joint operation involving the FAA and the Pentagon that maintains and repairs long-range radar used to monitor international civilian flights as well as potential national security threats such as enemy bombers, missiles and spy balloons.

How is any of this making America more efficient?

Reports can be seen here and here.

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