As of Sunday, TSA agents have gone a record 44 days without pay because Congress is at a stalemate over funding the Department of Homeland Security.
TSA agents who haven’t been paid in six weeks should get a paycheck soon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pay them amid a partial government shutdown. Travel experts, however, say it will take more than one paycheck to ease record-long lines at some of the nation’s largest airports.
Here’s the latest: In an interview with CNN Sunday, White House border czar Tom Homan said he hopes TSA agents will be paid by Monday or Tuesday. "It’s good news because these TSA officers are struggling," Homan said. "They can’t feed their families or pay their rent. Your heart goes out to them because they’re sitting there right now, working very hard and not being paid by members of the Congress who are on vacation and getting paid. It’s ridiculous."It’s been a record 44 days since TSA agents have been paid, as Congress remains at a stalemate over funding for the the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA. RELATED: Here's how you can support TSA agents working without payCallouts from unpaid TSA agents have caused a major staffing crisis and hours-long security lines at airports across the country. A handful of airports have experienced daily TSA officer callout rates of 40%. Nationwide on Thursday, more than 11.8% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work. On Friday, more than 3,560 TSA officers, or 12.35% of workers nationwide, called out.Nearly 500 of the agency’s nearly 50,000 officers have quit since the shutdown started, according to DHS.Democrats say they won’t vote to fund Homeland Security unless the Trump administration makes changes to its immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests. The Senate passed a measure Friday to fund TSA and other branches of DHS, excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection , the immigration operations at the heart of the budget impasse. But the House ultimately rejected the Senate’s version and passed their own bill that includes money for ICE and CBP. It’s unclear when Congress will vote again on funding DHS and immigration operations. Both chambers are on a two-week break. Caleb Harmon-Marshall, a former TSA officer who runs a travel newsletter called Gate Access, said the TSA staffing crisis won’t improve significantly until officers are confident that they won’t be subjected to more skipped paychecks."If it’s only for a pay period, that’s not enough to bring them back," Harmon-Marshall said. "It has to be an extended pay for them to come back or want to stay there."It’s hard to tell how soon Trump’s executive order will ease airport lines. Harmon-Marshall believes longer lines could stick around for one or two weeks. Asked if the deployment of ICE agents at airports will end once TSA officers get paid, Homan said that depends upon how many TSA employees would be returning to work."God bless men and women of ICE," Homan said. "They’re doing a job. They’re plugging those holes. They’re keeping the security of the airport at a high level.""Every place we send ICE officers, the lines have decreased," Homan said.
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