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.”

The FAA is holding a “delay reduction” meeting Wednesday, seeking to cap the total number of flights at the airport.

Federal Aviation Administration officials and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy are at separate hearings Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, as cancellations and delays continue to plague Newark International Airport and impact other airports around the country.

Staff shortages and equipment failures at Newark Liberty International Airport have raised safety concerns in recent weeks.