A TSA officer’s badge is seen on their shirt as people travel through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 7, 2025. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Passengers at a handful of airports were forced to wait hours in security checkpoint lines this week as the government’s shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security dragged on.
Although Transportation Security Administration officials are required by law to work during a funding shortfall, more than usual were absent after receiving only a portion of a paycheck in the most recent pay period. TSA officers will miss an entire paycheck this weekend if the closure is still in effect.
There appeared to be no end to the shutdown on Wednesday as the U.S. Senate rejected a bill that would have funded TSA and other agencies within DHS not related to immigration enforcement.
Meanwhile, TSA officers are not being paid.
Most live paycheck to paycheck, said Johnny Jones, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 100, which represents TSA agents.
The lack of pay contributed to absenteeism, Jones added. The union does not tolerate coordinated “sick calls,” which are illegal.
But individual officers miss work during a shutdown for one of three reasons, he said: pre-planned vacation, legitimate illness or personal emergencies, and those who call in diseased but find other work to pay bills.
“If you normally receive a paycheck, this third group wouldn’t exist,” he said.
Some of those who work skip lunch or make other sacrifices, Jones added. And he said two colleagues were displaced during the most recent shutdown last fall, which lasted 43 days.
The US war against Iran, the one estimated price Jones said TSA employment, which brought in billions of dollars in the first two weeks alone, has also led to resentment among TSA workers.
“One of the things I’ve heard from colleagues is that we have a lot of money to fight wars and bomb Iran, but we can’t pay our own employees,” he said.
Long lines
No exceptionally long wait times were reported Wednesday, but there have been several examples of blocked security lines in recent days.
Security lines exceeded three hours on Monday and Tuesday at William P. Hobby International Airport in Houston.
Lines at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport lasted up to two hours on Monday and the airport’s social media immediately announced the closure.
“Due to the impact of the partial federal government shutdown, there continues to be a shortage of TSA workers at the security checkpoint … resulting in longer than normal lines,” the airport’s X-bill states posted.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport also asked passengers to allow extra time to account for factors such as “TSA staffing shortages.”
CBS News reported On Wednesday, more than 300 TSA agents announced they had left their jobs since the shutdown began. TSA officials did not respond to messages seeking confirmation of that number.
Deadlock in the Senate
The top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patty Murray of Washington, sought unanimous Senate approval Wednesday to pass a bill that would fund all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Secretariat.
Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican and chairwoman of the Homeland Security funding subcommittee, objected.
Murray’s bill “would effectively defund our law enforcement officers responsible for keeping Americans safe,” Britt said.
Each party blamed the other for the stalemate, which has remained intractable since the ministry’s funding expired on February 14.
After the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis in January, Democrats are demanding changes in immigration enforcement behavior as a condition of funding for the department.
Republicans have said they are willing to negotiate the issue, but the parties disagree on what to do in the meantime for the department, which also includes the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Republican leaders tried to pass a short-term, constant resolution to fund the entire department, but Democrats rejected it, saying it would allow immigration enforcement agencies to operate without introducing additional accountability measures.
“Right now, TSA agents are without pay because Republicans and the White House have decided they would rather shut down all of DHS than pass some very fundamental reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol,” Murray said. “We also want TSA and FEMA funded, but we won’t be blackmailed by giving ICE a blank check to get this done.”
Politics quotes
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Democrats stopped negotiating DHS funding to keep the issue alive for the November midterm elections.
“The American people are tired,” he said. “Airport lines are getting longer because the TSA is not funded. The American people want us to do our job. Republicans are at the table. We are ready to work toward a solution. Democrats have resigned.”
Jones, an AFGE member and TSA commissioner, declined to say which approach to short-term funding would be preferable, but said it is Congress’ job to fund the federal government.
“We all swear the same oath to the same Constitution,” he said. “Now my job role is a little different than theirs, so they have to do theirs so I can do mine.”
