Senators are growing increasingly concerned that the mounting flight delays and air traffic controller absences could balloon to the level experienced during the 2019 government shutdown, with some believing it could again be key to breaking the stalemate.

Air traffic control staffing issues caused significant delays Monday and Tuesday as the shutdown extended into a second week, with roughly 10,000 flights being affected. Those troubles weren’t as pronounced Wednesday, though more than 3,000 flights experienced delays, albeit some of those stemmed from weather in the Northeast.

But worry is starting to escalate for lawmakers, who remember the air travel tumult that ultimately forced President Trump to cave on his demand for border wall funding nearly seven years ago.

“It becomes a pressure point,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. “You talk about disruptive — if air travel shuts down and all the air traffic controllers are sick, you basically have shut down the economy.”

“I hope we don’t get to that point,” he added.

The 35-day shutdown in 2019 reached a tipping point when 10 air traffic controllers — six from Northern Virginia and four from Florida — called in sick, causing a domino effect that resulted in major delays at........

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