McCormick slams “politiparasites” who comprise the “Capitulation Caucus”

Lisa McCormick, a prominent anti-establishment progressive Democrat, unleashed a scathing condemnation of the Trump administration’s deliberate attack on American consumers and the Senate’s feckless capitulation that enabled this corporate theft.

The Trump administration has officially withdrawn the Biden-era Airline Passenger Rights policy, which would have required airlines to provide cash compensation to passengers for significant flight delays and cancellations within carriers’ control.

This policy would have mandated payments of $200 to $300 for domestic delays over three hours and up to $775 for longer delays.

“This is a naked display of corporate plundering, a brazen theft from the pockets of American families to line the coffers of wealthy airline executives,” said McCormick. “Just one week after the FAA ordered flight reductions, the administration shows its true priority: shielding billionaire-owned airlines from accountability while passengers are left stranded and extorted.”

The decision, formally published on November 17, 2025, follows intense lobbying from airline industry groups who unanimously opposed the consumer protections, claiming they would create ‘unnecessary regulatory burdens’ and cost $5 billion annually.

McCormick said that the financial losses will still exist, but American consumers will shoulder the cost of corporate irresponsibility instead of the ones who caused the expense and inconvenience.

“The administration parrot’s the airline industry’s talking points, claiming competition will protect consumers, but this is a fraud perpetuated on the American public,” said McCormick. “The only ‘burden’ being lifted is the burden of accountability from airlines that treat passengers like cargo and consumer rights as optional.”

McCormick reserved equal fury for the “politiparasites” in the Senate whose impotence was recently demonstrated by their capitulation that ended the historic 43-day government shutdown without securing critical healthcare protections.

“The recent shutdown was a stress test of our democracy, and a Senate Democrats failed catastrophically,” McCormick said. “Their surrender to Republicans without securing an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits revealed them as politiparasites—feeding at the same donor pool as the GOP while contributing nothing of substance but hollow promises.”

The 43-day shutdown, the longest in modern U.S. history, caused massive air travel disruptions, where controller staffing issues contributed to 61% of delay minutes and disrupted 5.2 million airline passengers in early November alone.

“The spineless Senators who claim to represent working families voted to end the shutdown without the healthcare protections they supposedly fought for, then stood by as the administration stripped away passenger rights. This is governance by capitulation,” McCormick said.

McCormick said eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus broke with their party to advance the Republican funding bill, but the entire apparatus shares culpability.

“Their excuses are as pathetic as they are predictable—from Senator Shaheen calling this betrayal ‘the only deal’ to Senator Fetterman’s theatrical ‘country over party’ performance while throwing vulnerable Americans under the bus,” McCormick said. “They have traded our leverage for empty promises and demonstrated that their spines are as reliable as an airline schedule during a government shutdown.”

“Nobody stops a bully by surrendering, and Trump Republicans are nothing more than bullies,” said McCormick. “Instead of standing up for America, politiparasites folded because they were intimidated.”

The withdrawn passenger rights policy would have brought the United States in line with other developed nations.

The European Union, Canada, Brazil, and the United Kingdom all have mandatory airline delay compensation rules, while no major U.S. airline currently guarantees such cash payments for significant disruptions .

“The Trump administration and its corporate allies have ensured that American passengers remain second-class citizens in the global travel system,” McCormick said. “They have created a two-tier system of justice where airlines can cancel, delay, and inconvenience millions with impunity while families bear the financial burden.”

The Department of Transportation justified its decision by stating it would “allow airlines to compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers rather than imposing new minimum requirements” .

“This ‘let them eat cake’ philosophy is an insult to every American who has ever been stranded at an airport, missed a wedding, or slept on an airport floor while an airline CEO collects another million-dollar bonus,” McCormick added.

McCormick concluded with a call for genuine resistance and accountability: “We must channel our outrage into organized political action. The defeat of this consumer protection and the Senate’s capitulation are not endpoints—they are battle lines. We will primary every Democrat who abandons their constituents for corporate donors and empty promises. We will build a movement that cannot be ignored, one that puts people over profits and principles over political convenience.”

“The administration may have won this round, but the American people are awakening to the stark reality of this corporate takeover. We will not rest until every politician who enabled this plunder is held accountable and every American traveler has the protections they deserve,” said McCormick, who is expected to announce that she is taking action against the “Capitulation Caucus.”