WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday broke his silence on the nationwide ground stop that snarled airline travel this weekend, using the incident to push Congress on money to fully upgrade America's air traffic control system.
The Republican president has been conspicuously quiet on the ground stop since it began Friday afternoon, instead issuing statements on social media about completely different topics as frustrated passengers were left stranded at airports and his government scrambled with airlines to restore normal travel.
Trump said in a new post on his social media platform that his administration has begun upgrading that system, but that the task should not be done in “drips and drabs.” The Republican-controlled Congress approved $12.5 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration as part of the party's sweeping tax cut package last year, but Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has repeatedly characterized that funding as an down payment on a broader overhaul of the aging system.
“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently,” Trump wrote on social media Sunday. “It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of our current air control system is 50 years old - RIDICULOUS!”
In another post, he complained about how his Democratic predecessor had maintained the FAA and the air traffic control system, accusing Joe Biden's administration of making an “old and broken system worse than when they began.”
Biden signed a massive infrastructure bill into law in the first year of his presidency, which set aside $25 billion for the FAA to improve airports and its traffic control towers, to redevelop airport terminals, to “upgrade the foundation” of the air traffic control system, according to the FAA.
Duffy was the administration’s public face on the ground stop across the Sunday news shows, pressing Congress for billions of dollars for upgrades to the air traffic control infrastructure.
“I can’t apologize for what was passed on to us. And I can’t blame Republicans or Democrats, because it’s all of them. It goes back, 20, 25, 30 years of a lack of investment,” he told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
In a post on the social media platform X, Duffy said contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. had secured two routers from FAA facilities in Texas and Arkansas and was conducting “deep diagnostics” on the equipment. He has said the problem began when L3Harris was replacing a section of old copper wire with new fiber wire, somehow causing the system to overload.
After the wire was replaced at the site in El Dorado, Ark., and the router was turned on, a problem then cropped up at a facility in Amarillo, Texas, cascading into the ground stop. "We didn’t think that should or would happen, he told ABC's “This Week.”
As for the traveling public, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “we have some delays in the airspace right now,” but looking to the end of the day and into Monday, “we should be running at full capacity.”
In a ground stop, airplanes and crews are taken out of position, he said, “so it takes a little bit of time for the airliners to get back … at full capacity and operation but we’re well on our way.”
Aircraft are seen at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders said Sunday that Myanmar has failed to comply with a 2021 peace plan and that its military and other armed groups continue to attack civilians, prompting them to extend a ban on Myanmar's leader attending the bloc's annual summits.
The stern rebuke by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who opened their annual summit meetings in the Philippine capital on Sunday, came during a review of the progress on the five-point peace plan by the country's military-backed government. Myanmar is a member of the 11-nation regional bloc.
ASEAN leaders proposed the plan in April 2021 to try to ease the violence that erupted after the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The army’s takeover triggered widespread pro-democracy protests that were brutally quashed, leading to armed resistance and a civil war that has spread over much of the country.
The leaders reiterated “deep concern” over insufficient progress in implementing the peace plan. They urged all parties and stakeholders in Myanmar, "in particular the armed forces, security forces and armed groups to de-escalate violence and stop targeted attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and enhance trust-building efforts.”
Last month, a United Nations rights investigator said the military-backed government in Myanmar was intentionally attacking civilians to terrorize them and force them into submission.
The leaders said the ban on Myanmar’s leader and foreign minister attending ASEAN summit meetings would continue “until there is meaningful progress in the implementation” of the peace plan. The plan calls, among others, for an immediate end to hostilities and the start of dialogue mediated by the regional bloc’s special envoy.
Under the ban, Myanmar can be represented only by lower-level career diplomats, including at the ongoing ASEAN meetings in Manila. Myanmar was due to hold ASEAN's rotating chair this year and host its multiple regional meetings, but because of the civil strife, the role passed to the Philippines.
“There’s still certain bombings and displacement of Myanmar people so step-by-step, we give it to them, how they’re going to tackle this issue, and we’ll monitor that,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, ASEAN’s current special envoy to Myanmar, said in a news conference in Manila.
The three-day summit, which includes scheduled talks with world leaders led by U.S. President Donald Trump, will focus on conflicts, including the war in Myanmar, according to drafts of post-summit communiques seen by The Associated Press.
Activists and student protesters hold signs and banners during a demonstration against Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing at a building in Quezon City, Philippines, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Angie de Silva)
Myanmar Director-General of the ASEAN Affairs Department Han Win Aung arrives for the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit retreat sessions in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
From left, Myanmar Director-General of the ASEAN Affairs Department Han Win Aung, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hangchuon Naron and Laotian Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith pose for a picture during the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit retreat sessions in Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
Myanmar Director-General of the ASEAN Affairs Department Han Win Aung , left, waits for the start of the ASEAN Leaders' Interface with Representatives of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026. (Rolex Dela Pena/Pool Photo via AP)
