A veteran air-traffic controller at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport is calling for more resources and speaking out about the intense pressures workers face amid a staffing shortage and tech outages.

At a House Appropriations Committee meeting yesterday regarding the Department of Transportation’s fiscal budget for 2026, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) referenced Duffy’s comments. She suggested that Duffy “diverted [his] wife from Newark airport to LaGuardia out of a sense of security.”

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered a reduction of traffic at the airport for the “next several weeks,” insisting that it’s safe to fly out of New Jersey’s busiest airport, despite it using an “old” system, which he previously described as being run on “copper wire and floppy disks.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport for the "next several weeks."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted he changed his wife’s flight from Newark to LaGuardia just hours after claiming the troubled New Jersey airport was safe for the public.

Yes, President Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE aren’t doing travelers any favors, but a scarcity of air-traffic controllers has existed for years. Newark airport has become ground zero for the issue through a confluence of events — events that haven’t actually happened at Newark airport.

An exclusive video obtained by CBS News shows inside the problem-plagued air traffic control facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport during a brief outage on May 9.