As lines snake across airports and Transportation Security Administration workers clock in for another day without pay, a major turning point in the ongoing chaos looms on March 27.
Come Friday, around 47,000 TSA workers are set to miss yet another paycheck, according to their union, the American Federation of Government Employees. That’s due to the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has left most of the Department of Homeland Security unfunded. TSA workers haven’t received full paychecks since February 14. As a result, hundreds of TSA workers have quit, and thousands have called out of work, contributing to ongoing travel snarls for Americans trying to fly.
Friday might mark more than another empty paycheck: March 27 is the final date Congress is scheduled to be in session before a two-week recess, and lawmakers need to come to a DHS funding deal for TSA workers to get paid.
Lawmakers have clashed over funding DHS after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, with Democrats calling for reforms to ICE and Customers and Border Protection. Ultimately, the rest of the government was funded while leaving DHS in the lurch, even as ICE agents are still paid through separate funding from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill last year.
There is some potential for relief. Some lawmakers have signaled that they’re ready to move forward on a deal, according to CBS News. If that does move forward, the agency could be funded ahead of the break, and workers would start collecting paychecks again.
“President Trump is using every tool available to help American travelers who are facing hours long lines at airports across the country—especially during this spring break and holiday season that is very important for many American families,” Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to Business Insider. “This pointless, reckless shutdown of our homeland security workforce has caused more than 458 TSA officers to quit and thousands to call out from work because they are not able to afford gas, childcare, food, or rent.”
The TSA woes are being felt at airports across the country. Some travelers have spent hours waiting in lines and faced harrowing conditions as they attempted to navigate through security. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport are both warning passengers to expect wait times of 4 or more hours. To try to mitigate the situation, the Trump administration has sent in ICE agents, a move that AFGE slammed over agents lacking aviation security training.
Mike Gayzagian, president of AFGE Local 2617, which represents TSA workers in airports across New England, said Friday could mark a “hard choice” for TSA workers. If they go without pay, but know there’s a deal in place for funding, there might not be a major staffing issue, he said. He thinks that, for some workers, the “damage has already been done.”
“It’s a good-paying job, and good-paying jobs are hard to find, and reliable, good-paying jobs are even harder to find. The federal government was the gold standard for good-paying, reliable jobs,” Gayzagian said. “After this, that’s no longer the case. I think a lot of discussion will surround that fact later on, after this is over.”
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