One month into the partial government shutdown, hundreds of Transportation Security Administration workers going without full pay have quit, while others have taken unscheduled time off, prompting more travel headaches as a winter storm slams the Midwest and spring break travelers try to fly.
At times Monday, wait times reported at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport stretched up to nearly two hours long.
“Oh my God, are these the lines for TSA? That’s crazy,” Alijah Brown told CNN when she saw the line in Atlanta.
More than 300 TSA agents have quit, the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post Friday.
This weekend, TSA workers missed their first full paycheck since the partial shutdown began in mid-February after funding for DHS, which oversees TSA, lapsed amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration reform.
“It’s not their fault because they’re not getting paid and they’re not going to come in here. I wouldn’t do it either.” Victoria Kilgore said as she tried to get her family of four from Atlanta to Punta Cana, Mexico, for vacation. “You’re just trying to buy your time back, have a little piece of vacation from the Matrix, and the Matrix still gets you.”
In a letter Sunday, the CEOs of major airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, urged Congress to restore DHS funding and embrace a bipartisan solution to ensure federal aviation workers are paid during shutdowns.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid,” the letter said.
Late last year, the longest government shutdown on record came to an end after an increasing number of air traffic controllers and TSA screeners did not show up to work. Air traffic controllers are not affected by the ongoing partial shutdown.
Double the callouts
It’s “no surprise” that hundreds of TSA employees have quit this time around, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. The union represents more than 46,000 uniformed TSA workers.
“Most Americans would quit their jobs if they didn’t get a paycheck on payday,” Kelley said. Still, many officers continue to work with “care and professionalism,” he added.
Last year, approximately 1,110 officers “separated from TSA in October and November,” according to TSA data shared in February with the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
bcgame
At times Monday, wait times reported at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport stretched up to nearly two hours long.
“Oh my God, are these the lines for TSA? That’s crazy,” Alijah Brown told CNN when she saw the line in Atlanta.
More than 300 TSA agents have quit, the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post Friday.
This weekend, TSA workers missed their first full paycheck since the partial shutdown began in mid-February after funding for DHS, which oversees TSA, lapsed amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration reform.
“It’s not their fault because they’re not getting paid and they’re not going to come in here. I wouldn’t do it either.” Victoria Kilgore said as she tried to get her family of four from Atlanta to Punta Cana, Mexico, for vacation. “You’re just trying to buy your time back, have a little piece of vacation from the Matrix, and the Matrix still gets you.”
In a letter Sunday, the CEOs of major airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, urged Congress to restore DHS funding and embrace a bipartisan solution to ensure federal aviation workers are paid during shutdowns.
“It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid,” the letter said.
Late last year, the longest government shutdown on record came to an end after an increasing number of air traffic controllers and TSA screeners did not show up to work. Air traffic controllers are not affected by the ongoing partial shutdown.
Double the callouts
It’s “no surprise” that hundreds of TSA employees have quit this time around, Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. The union represents more than 46,000 uniformed TSA workers.
“Most Americans would quit their jobs if they didn’t get a paycheck on payday,” Kelley said. Still, many officers continue to work with “care and professionalism,” he added.
Last year, approximately 1,110 officers “separated from TSA in October and November,” according to TSA data shared in February with the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
bcgame