Trump Advocates Hollywood Tax Breaks During Nationwide FAA Ground Stop

As a nationwide aviation disruption brought U.S. air travel to a halt on Friday, President Donald Trump published a lengthy statement on Truth Social advocating for federal tax breaks to support the Hollywood film and television industry, The Daily Beast reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced a nationwide ground stop for departing flights shortly before 4 p.m. on Friday due to a telecommunication outage affecting air traffic control centers, Yahoo News Canada reported. The disruption recalled ground stops last seen during a 90-minute system outage in 2023 and, before that, on September 11, 2001.

While the aviation system remained paralyzed, Trump, 80, was meeting at the White House with actor Jon Voight, Steven Paul, and Scott Karol to discuss reviving support for a federal film incentive, Variety reported. Karol told Variety that the president was receiving updates on both the flight situation and a capsized boat in New Orleans.

“He’s concerned with different things because he’s the president,” Karol told Variety.

Paul said.

“He was telling (Trump) he has a helpful heart and he feels this can get done,” Paul said.

Truth Social Push for Film Legislation

Approximately two hours into the flight chaos, Trump posted a nearly 300-word statement on his Truth Social account endorsing the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in the House in September by Texas Representative Nathaniel Moran. The legislation is officially known as H.R. 10582.

“Hollywood, and so many other places, have been virtually ’emptied out’ by the Tax Incentives, and much more, given by other Countries,” Trump wrote in the post, pointing to competition from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Trump promised that the amount spent on tax incentives will “be made up tenfold the money pouring into the Treasury’s coffers.” Furthermore, he wrote, “It is a very Bipartisan undertaking, especially in that so much of the money being lost to other countries is coming out of the Blue States.”

Trump added, “Meetings are being set up, routinely, with the Leaders of both Parties in order to, GET THIS DONE!” He declared, “MAKE OUR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY GREAT AGAIN!”

The proposed legislation would provide a transferable tax credit of 20% to 30% on domestic labor costs for film and television productions. Supporters suggest that combining the federal credit with existing state incentives, particularly in California, could raise the total rebate to 57%.

“We need to bring Tom Cruise home,” Josh Rogin, senior vice president of federal government affairs for the Motion Picture Association, said at the American Film Market, Screen Daily reported. Rogin said that the incentive could become live by January 1, 2027.

Official Responses to the Outage

Federal officials worked to manage public concern as flights remained grounded across the country until the FAA lifted the ground stop on Friday.

Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of Homeland Security, addressed the public during the crisis. “This isn’t another 9/11,” Mullin said. “This is a telecommunication outage.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed via social media that a communication issue impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, prompting FAA technicians to launch an investigation.

Meanwhile, the prospects for passing the film tax credit during the current congressional session face legislative hurdles following recent Democratic midterm victories. POLITICO reported that an expected year-end budget fight and impending Democratic investigations into the administration have dimmed the likelihood of attaching a costly tax credit to a short-term spending bill during the lame-duck session.

Representative Adam Schiff responded to Trump’s social media post on X, writing, “President Trump and I agree: it’s time for Congress to pass a federal film incentive.”