As travel disruptions worsen and senators race to come up with a proposal to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, lawmakers in the House of Representatives A hearing is held at 10 a.m. ET To discuss the effects of funding interruptions.
Senators are seeking to reach an agreement that would fund a large part of the ministryincluding TSA workers who go unpaid, but excluding immigration operations that were at the heart of the dispute.
Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeil said many airports are seeing recall rates of more than 40%, according to prepared remarks she will make at the hearing. She is also expected to tell lawmakers about the personal toll the shutdown has taken on TSA workers who are “running out of options to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.”
like American airports are still crowded with long lines Due to understaffing at TSA, President Donald Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers To provide airport securityThis raised concerns among some lawmakers. At least 458 TSA officers have resigned altogether, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Here’s the latest:
The top executive overseeing Houston’s airports says security lines where travelers wait four or more hours could lengthen if the political impasse keeping TSA agents unpaid is not resolved soon.
The lines that twist and turn across several floors at George Bush Intercontinental Airport stem from TSA’s ability to staff between a third and a half of its usual number of checkpoint lines during the busy spring travel season, said Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System.
“I want you to know that we see it,” Szczesniak said in an online video Tuesday. “We see families arriving early and waiting for hours. We see missed flights. We see missed moments: weddings, vacations, time with loved ones.”
Hundreds of airport employees “from finance to IT to maintenance” have been temporarily reassigned to help manage the routes, Szczesniak said.
But he warned: “This is not sustainable.”
“We are concerned that conditions will worsen at airports across the United States until Congress ends this closure,” Szczesniak said.
A woman in Indiana put off dental surgery because she didn’t know if she could afford the copay. A Florida couple with young children is depleting their savings. A grandmother in Idaho plans to sell her car to pay the rent.
They are among tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration officers who are set to receive another $0 paycheck this week. Disagreement in Congress Due to Homeland Security funding, their salaries have been withheld since mid-February. As monthly bills come due, many of these federal employees, who screen passengers and baggage at airports across the United States, are making tough choices about how to make ends meet.
“Stop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if someone’s going to eat today,” Hedrick Thomas, president of the National Federation of Government Employees Union Council, which represents TSA employees, told reporters on Tuesday.
McNeil is also expected to tell lawmakers about the personal toll the shutdown has caused TSA workers. In her prepared remarks, she described how some are having difficulty making ends meet, as some have received eviction notices. She says some workers have been charged late fees and even defaulted on loans.
“TSA employees are dedicated government employees who want to continue keeping the traveling public safe and secure, but they are running out of options to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table,” McNeil said.
Han Nguyen McNeil, acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, says daily call-up rates of officers scheduled to report for duty have increased from 4% before the DHS shutdown to 11% nationwide, with multiple airports seeing call-up rates of more than 40%.
Meanwhile, the agency is grappling with a surge in spring break travel.
McNeil made the comments in prepared remarks that she will present before the House Homeland Security Committee. She will testify on Wednesday along with other agency heads within the Department of Homeland Security about the impact of the shutdown.
She added that waiting times had increased to more than four hours at some airports, leading to major security risks and passengers missing flights.