From The Hill newspaper,
Airline CEOs ask Congress for TSA agents to be paid during shutdown.
“Congress” isn’t the problem. Senate Democrats refuse to put up a handful of votes so that TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, and a handful of other agencies under the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) can get their budgets approved through the end of September.
The Hill reports,
A group of 10 airline CEOs sent a Sunday letter to lawmakers urging them to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers during the government shutdown.
The letter outlined an urgent need for TSA officers, U.S. customs clearance officers at airports and air traffic controllers to be paid during shutdowns as travel expectations for the summer season ramp up.
I wish the airline CEO’s the best of luck. We are in the middle of the spring break travel season, with Easter coming up next month and “summer” kicking off in late May.
From the New York Post,
Air-aggedon — Flyer chaos rages as 300 TSA officers quit while Dems refuse budget deal.
The Post reports,
More than 300 TSA officers have tossed in the towel since the shutdown began Feb. 14, while a slew of other workers have been taking unscheduled absences, CBS News reported, citing internal TSA statistics.
Hobby Airport in Houston saw 53% of its TSA officers call out March 8 and 47% the next day, while other airports have seen double-digit call-out averages since the shutdown started.
Adding,
Those troubling rates were logged even before TSA officers missed their first paycheck Friday — with some airports seeing travelers standing in security lines for hours as their drastically depleted staff struggled to keep up with business.
Democrats don’t care. They think that they are “winning” the shutdown and will likely not back down until some horrific catastrophe occurs where DHS is unable to fully respond.
