The Senate is gearing up for another vote this Friday, aiming to resolve the ongoing government shutdown, which has prompted airports across the United States to start reducing thousands of flights daily.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune believes he has devised a strategy to gain Democratic support and bring an end to what has become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, now stretching beyond 36 days.

Thune’s proposal involves appending three year-long spending bills to a continuing resolution that has already been approved by the House of Representatives. This resolution is designed to fund the government through January, according to reports from Politico.

Meanwhile, buoyed by recent electoral victories that President Donald Trump attributed to the shutdown, Democrats have maintained their unity and are working on a counter-proposal.

“We want to stay together and unified. And we had a really good conversation about how to do that,” said Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut after a Democratic meeting on Thursday.

Nevertheless, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who is involved in bipartisan negotiations, expressed uncertainty about whether the parties are any closer to reaching an agreement.

If the plan fails, Senate leadership is set to keep members of both parties in Washington through the weekend in an attempt to finally get a deal done. 

While millions remain concerned about the continuation of SNAP benefits for 42million Americans, panic has set in about the ‘unholy mess’ set to take place at airports. 

The Senate will hold another vote Friday on a deal to end the government shutdown as US airports begin to comply with the FAA order to cut thousands of flights per day

Majority Leader John Thune said he believes he has a plan to get Democrats on board to end what is now the longest shutdown in US history at over 36 days

American airports were hit by mounting delays on Thursday morning, with less than 24 hours until the White House begins to cancel up to 10 percent of daily flights because of the longest government shutdown in history.  

There were already 269 cancellations and 576 delays as of 7.30am eastern standard time, offering a stark warning of the havoc travelers can anticipate at airports over the coming days.

The Federal Aviation Administration is reducing air traffic by 10 percent across 40 ‘high-volume’ markets beginning Friday to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Experts predict the cutback could represent as many as 1,800 flights a day and upwards of 268,000 seats combined. 

Nearly 700 planned Friday flights were cut from airline schedules, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. 

That number, already four times higher than Thursday’s daily total, was likely to keep climbing.

The 40 airports selected by the FAA span more than two dozen states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a list distributed to the airlines. 

In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be impacted.

Donald Trump blamed the shutdown for Democrats’ electoral victories on Tuesday

Chuck Schumer’s Democrats appear emboldened and ready to wait for a better deal

‘I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be an unholy mess for the next few days if these cuts go through,’ airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford announced the 10 percent slowdown Wednesday, with Bedford admitting the airline industry could be headed for uncharted territory. 

‘We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns,’ Bedford said. ‘I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures.’ 

The FAA said it was making the extraordinary cutback to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown.

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began October 1, and most have been on duty six days a week while putting in mandatory overtime. 

With some calling out of work due to frustration, taking second jobs or not having money for child care or gas, staffing shortages during some shifts have led to flight delays at a number of US airports.

Bedford, citing increased staffing pressures and voluntary safety reports from pilots indicating growing fatigue among air traffic controllers, said he and Duffy did not want to wait until the situation reached a crisis point.

‘We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating,’ Bedford said. 

Workers and volunteers help distribute food boxes to those in need at a large-scale drive-through food distribution, in response to the federal government shutdown

Airport delays at Salt Lake City International, one of the many airports that face reductions

‘The system is extremely safe today and will be extremely safe tomorrow. If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we´ll come back and take additional measures.’

United, Southwest and American all said they will try to minimize the impact on consumers as they cut their schedules to comply with the order.

President Trump told Republican senators during a breakfast meeting at the White House Wednesday that ‘we must get the government back open soon and really immediately.’ 

At the same meeting, Trump blamed major GOP’s losses in an off-year election on the shutdown – now the longest stalemate in US history.