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Hours-long security lines continued to snarl airports across the U.S. on Monday after TSA officers missed another paycheck last week during the partial government shutdown. But aviation experts say delays could ease within days once workers are paid again.
President Trump, who said he recognized the urgency of paying security personnel, on Thursday directed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA workers immediately.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to CBS News that, at the direction of Mr. Trump, “TSA has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce.” The department added that TSA officers should begin receiving pay as early as Monday, March 30.
The president’s directive comes as Congress is still negotiating a deal on the department’s funding, with the Senate passing a measure that the House then rejected. But House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday the lower chamber would vote on its own plan.
In the meantime, White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that ICE agents deployed to help TSA officers maintain security would remain in place until the airports return to “normal operations.”
When money starts to flow into federal workers’ bank accounts again, security lines should improve relatively quickly, according to travel experts.
On Saturday, the TSA officer call-out rate had improved slightly, but was still roughly five times its normal level, with more than 10%, or nearly 2,900 TSA workers failing to show up to work, according to the agency.
Some Atlanta-based TSA workers told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they had started receiving back pay for hours worked during the longest-ever government shutdown on Monday.
Here’s how soon travel could ease.
When will airport chaos subside?
This is the second time in less than a year that TSA officers have been forced to work without pay because lawmakers have failed to fully fund the government, leading more workers to call out sick and resign. That has fueled widespread staff shortages and, in turn, long security lines for passengers.
TSA call-out rates on Thursday hit their highest level — nearly 12% — since the shutdown began, before easing slightly over the weekend. Additionally, more than 500 agents have quit as a result of the funding impasse, the department said.
“After the last shutdown, as soon as money hit their accounts, worker sickouts dropped dramatically,” Clint Henderson, a travel expert at The Points Guy, told CBS News. It took between two days and two weeks after they received their paychecks for security screening line wait times to return to normal, Henderson noted.
“Once the money starts flowing again, it will be great for passengers,” Henderson said, advising that anyone with plans to travel should brace for ongoing frustrations at the nation’s airports until TSA agents receive their paychecks.
“Every day they go without being paid, it gets worse,” he said.
Longer-term impact
Working without pay also takes a serious toll on morale, Henderson noted, saying that the latest episode could hamper TSA’s ability to recruit and replace the hundreds of essential workers who have quit over the course of the latest government shutdown.
“The longer-term impacts are more complicated,” Henderson said. “They will have to hire and train more people, and morale is really bad, so it will be an ongoing issue.”
