Hundreds of thousands of federal employees return to work across the country today.

After over a month, an estimated price tag of $3 billion, the shutdown ended on Friday.

But with no wall, no agreement for a wall, no IOU for a wall, nothing.

So why did this totally pointless, destructive record-breaking shit show finally come to an end?

Turns out people really don't like flight delays.

A full ground stop at LaGuardia, the drastic action taken by the FAA to keep the sky safe,

resulting in flight cancellations, and many of today's 3,400 delays.

Now this is due to an air traffic controller shortage, which is the result of the government

shutdown.

The numbers of them in two strategic locations in the country.

One was outside of Washington, DC, the other down near Jacksonville, Florida, called in sick.

At the Washington, DC area center, six of the 13 controllers scheduled nearly half called out.

And led to backups on the east coast.

The laid flights rippling across the country tonight.

As a result of this action, they sped the end of the 35-day long partial government shutdown.

Joseph McCartan isn't an air traffic controller, but he wrote a book about them.

He teaches history at Georgetown University.

One thing we know is that they're union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association,

Natka, publicly stated that it was opposed to any organized action to restrict air traffic,

whether it be a sick out, a slow down, or any other organized action.

And if the union tried to organize such an action, it would be illegal.

It could lead to the union's desertification, but it seems clear that controllers themselves

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