atlanta — No matter the politics or destination, passengers at the Atlanta airport were united by one desire Saturday — time to pay TSA employees.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – one of the busiest airports in the world – is a people-moving machine. But the closure is Clogged TSA checkpoints Which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous materials.
Many passengers departing Atlanta are now arriving up to four hours early, fearing the delay will cause them to miss their flights.
Christian Childress, a private flight attendant, sees the flight system up close. When a resident of Redwood City, California works, they don’t have to wait in TSA lines. But he often passes through a checkpoint when flying commercially to get to his job. On Saturday, he was on his way to Nashville, Tennessee, on a leisure trip.
Childress said the effects of the shutdown have been felt so far, as he arrived at the Atlanta airport nearly three hours before his 1:30 p.m. flight.
“The No. 1 issue should be paying people who need to get paid and keeping our air travel system safe,” Childress said. “Then they can discuss what they want to discuss about homeland security.”
TSA officers have not received a salary since the US Department of Homeland Security It was partially closed on February 14. Democrats refused to fund the agency, while other departments were unaffected, demanding changes in immigration enforcement by federal agents in the wake of the shooting death. Alex Pretty and Rene is good In Minneapolis.
But concerns about long queues at airports are increasingly attracting attention.
The funding bill failed to advance Friday in the Senate, with Democrats refusing to provide the necessary support. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would introduce an alternative measure Saturday to fund just the TSA. That, too, is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare session over the weekend.
Some passengers said it’s time for Democrats to abandon the shutdown.
“I don’t want to go back and forth between Democrats and Republicans, but I think the Democrats are holding up everything because they can’t get their way,” said Tyrone Williams, a retiree from the Atlanta suburb of Ellenwood. He was on a waiting list for testing before his flight to Philadelphia on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to give federal immigration officers a role in airport security unless Democrats in Congress agree to fund the administration.
In a social media post, Trump said Democrats must immediately reach a deal or else he will “move our amazing national agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the airports where they will conduct security like no one has ever seen it before.”
He said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would arrest “all illegal immigrants who come into our country,” with a focus on those coming from Somalia.
Trump did not elaborate on the details, and it was not immediately clear whether there was an imminent plan to move ICE officers to airports.
Wait times at the checkpoint in Atlanta, which had risen to 90 minutes early Saturday, fell to a more manageable 25 minutes by mid-morning on what is typically one of the slowest days of the week for air travel. but Staff shortage Airports were forced to close checkpoints at times Wait times fluctuate wildly In Atlanta and some other cities.
Jackie Donahue, of Oldsmar, Fla., was on his way home to Tampa on Saturday, joining the line for a checkpoint at 11 a.m. for a 2:25 p.m. flight. She said she is grateful that TSA officers are still working without pay.
“We have to thank the people who are here,” said Donahue, a nurse returning from a European river cruise.
The vast majority of TSA employees They are considered essential and continue to work without pay while government funding is interrupted. Nearly 50,000 TSA employees will work during the shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security said. About 10% of TSA officers were absent from work nationwide on Thursday, the department reported. Absenteeism rates were two or three times higher in some places.
So do TSA officers, union leaders and federal officials say Under financial pressure. Airport screening workers have spent nearly half of the past 171 days with their pay delayed due to the policy — 43 days last fall during the longest period. Government shutdown In history, four days ago this year during a brief funding outage, and now 36 days and counting during the current shutdown.
At least 376 officers have resigned since this shutdown began, according to officials, exacerbating employee turnover at an agency that has historically had among the highest attrition rates in the U.S. government and lowest employee morale.
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Associated Press writer Colleen Binkley contributed from West Palm Beach, Florida.