Photo: Alamy
Air travel across the U.S. experienced major delays over the weekend after a funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security left thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees working without pay, raising concerns about longer security lines and broader economic effects.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security expired early Saturday, triggering a partial shutdown affecting agencies within the department, including the TSA.
Under DHS contingency plans published last September, more than 95 percent of TSA employees are classified as essential and must continue working during a shutdown. About 2,933 of the agency’s 64,130 workers are designated nonessential and are subject to furloughs.
As of Sunday, DHS had not publicly confirmed whether the contingency plan was being fully implemented or whether all nonessential workers had been placed on furlough. Unlike some past shutdowns, air traffic controllers continued to receive pay because they are employed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is part of the Department of Transportation rather than DHS.
TSA officials warned that prolonged unpaid work could strain airport security operations.
“Many [TSA officers] work paycheck to paycheck trying to support themselves and their families,” acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers last week. “During a shutdown, the ability to pay for rent, bills, groceries, child care, and gas just to get to work becomes very challenging, leading to increased unscheduled absences as a shutdown progresses.”
She added that “higher callouts can result in longer wait times at checkpoints, leading to missed or delayed flights, which has a cascading negative impact on the American economy.”
Flight-tracking data showed widespread disruptions over the weekend. More than 5,100 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed Saturday, with nearly 460 canceled. The data does not separate delays caused by TSA staffing pressures from those tied to weather, maintenance or other operational issues. More than 5,500 flights were delayed on Friday before the funding lapse began.
TSA officials said the shutdown would also affect other services, including hiring and technology upgrades to modernize screening operations.