whatever1 parent
Why can't the airlines pay the air traffic controllers? They pay anyway for airport fees, it should be a minimal difference in the ticket cost.
IIUC they legally can't do that. ATC are federal employees, you can't just have private companies pay off federal workers. (Well, I know Trump's friend is literally doing that for the military so idk, maybe laws are just words these days)
Companies can give gifts to individuals, as long as they report them and pay tax on them.
Why hire private? Why not fund the existing federal ones?
In previous shutdowns, Congress passed temporary funding bills to keep paying certain functions such as ATC for a few weeks while negotiating the budget.
This time, negotiations seem to have entirely stalled.