Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump was briefed on flight delays at major East Coast airports, his spokeswoman said on Friday, as officials inside the White House and on Capitol Hill ponder whether a widespread air travel debacle could break the weeks-long shutdown stalemate.

"The President has been briefed and we are monitoring the ongoing delays at some airports," press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a statement. "We are in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA."

It's too early to say whether the flight delays at eastern airports will break the shutdown stalemate. But the prospect of a national air travel meltdown has long loomed in the minds of White House and congressional officials as the one thing that might bring an end to the stalemate.

And it comes as Trump is facing increasing pressure from Republicans to find an end to the shutdown, whose consequences have mounted as it stretches longer than a month. On Thursday, Republican lawmakers vented their frustration at Vice President Mike Pence during a tense lunch over a lack of a strategy out of the shutdown.

On Friday morning, air traffic was delayed at two New York-area airports -- LaGuardia and Newark -- in addition to Philadelphia International Airport due to staffing issues at a Federal Aviation Administration regional air traffic control center.

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