GOP Congressman Rides His Motorcycle Nearly 1,000 Miles to D.C. to Avoid Air Travel Chaos

Rep. Derrick Van Orden said on Tuesday that he is driving his motorcycle more than 900 miles from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., in order to avoid shutdown-related air travel chaos and make it in time for a vote on reopening the government.

“You may ask, ‘Derrick, why are you on a Harley Davidson when it’s 32 degrees outside?’ Van Orden, wearing a beanie and a camouflage jacket, said in a selfie video this week from the side of the Mississippi River. “This is why: Our Senate colleagues finally came to their senses and passed that CR, so we’ve got to get back to Washington, D.C., and vote on that bill. But because they shut down the government, the Democrats, flights are too unreliable, so I’m going to ride on a motorcycle.

“It’s about 16 hours or so,” he added.

Van Orden is not the only member of Congress to rely on alternative transportation for their trip back to Washington. Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas started a similarly grueling drive on Tuesday — albeit in a climate-controlled car — with a pit stop in Tennessee to pick up Rep. Trent Kelly.

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Flight cancellations and delays erupted over the weekend following Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s order to reduce flight capacity at 40 airports across the country due to shutdown-related staffing shortages. Nearly half of all domestic flights were either canceled or delayed on Monday.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Duffy said the government reopening would not immediately correct the flight delays.

“We’re going to watch, analyze, encourage [controllers] to come back. But again, we’re going to start to alleviate the restrictions — we’re at 6% now — we’ll alleviate that only when the data says we should,” Duffy said.

Arizona Reps. Greg Stanton, Eli Crane, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar all caught the same flight into Washington, which was temporarily delayed by a disruptive passenger.

“We’re making emergency stop in Kansas City to remove disruptive passenger,” Stanton posted on X. “None of my colleagues is the disruptor. Freedom Caucus losing its mojo.”

Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday ordered the House back in session, just hours after the Senate finally reached a deal to end the country’s longest government shutdown.

After weeks of stalled negotiations, a group of moderate Senate Democrats voted in support of a shutdown deal Sunday night that included funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through the end of 2026 and a continuing resolution to fund the government through Jan. 30 — but notably no funding for the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that were at the center of Democrats’ demands.

The House, which has been out of session for more than a month, is expected to return on Wednesday for a vote to reopen the government.