Your local airport could get shut down if Congress doesn’t agree on funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Transportation Security Administration officers missed their first full paycheck last week, and security lines at airports stretched well outside the terminals at some facilities as security employees called out to seek other sources of income.
Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News that if the situation doesn’t improve, some smaller airports may be forced to shut down.
“As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports – particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up,” Stahl said.
The current partial government shutdown primarily affects funding for DHS, which houses the TSA.
The partial government shutdown has forced 50,000 TSA airport security officers to work without pay for the last month, and 10% of them did not show up for work on Sunday, March 15. TSA officers have said they’re struggling to make ends meet after their first missed paycheck.
“When you get a partial paycheck, when you expect $2,000 and you receive $500, and then you expect $2,000 and you receive zero, you’re now $3,500 in the hole,” Johnny Jones, Secretary-Treasurer of AFGE TSA Council 100 and a Dallas-based TSA worker, previously told USA TODAY. “I don’t have anybody I can call and ask for $3,500.”
During the previous government shutdown – the longest in United States history – the Trump administration required airlines to reduce their schedules at major airports in order to alleviate pressure on Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers, who were working without pay.
The FAA is fully funded during the current partial shutdown, but travelers still suffer the consequences of long security lines with TSA employees working without pay.
The Department of Transportation and the TSA did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment or confirm whether the small airport closure proposal is under consideration.
Contributing: Reuters
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York, and you can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown may lead to airport closures, Trump official says
Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY
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