Travelers across the country are fuming as airport security lines stretch for hours, flights are delayed, and some smaller airports are on the verge of closure.
The disruption comes amid a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that’s now in its sixth week, leaving more than 260,000 federal workers, including tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, without paychecks.
The crisis took a new twist this Thursday, March 18, when House Speaker Mike Johnson called out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, accusing him of not speaking the truth to the American people.
The House Minority Leader appeared on television and urged Republicans to bring a standalone bill to the floor to pay TSA agents and reopen non-immigration parts of DHS.
Taking to his X platform, Johnson described what he did as fact-checking Jeffries’s statements in the media.
The Speaker noted that his fellow Republicans had already passed comprehensive DHS funding bills twice this year, only to face near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
Also Read: Trump Accuses Democrats of Airport Disruptions Linked to DHS Funding Impasse
“Nearly every Democrat voted against it both times,” Johnson wrote. He accused Democrats of holding out for concessions that would effectively “reopen our border” by limiting ICE enforcement and mass deportation operations under the Trump administration.
The shutdown began in mid-February after Congress failed to agree on funding levels for DHS, the third-largest federal department responsible for everything from airport security to disaster response and immigration enforcement.
Republicans insist any funding package must include strong support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue aggressive deportation efforts.
On the other side, however, democrats argue that those agencies need reforms to prevent what they call excessive actions against families and non-criminal immigrants.
Democrats have also been pushing multiple standalone measures to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and cybersecurity operations while ignoring ICE and CBP.
Pay for TSA workers
Jeffries and other top Democrats launched a discharge petition this week, a rare procedural move to force a floor vote on legislation that would pay TSA workers and keep key agencies running without touching immigration enforcement.
“All Speaker Johnson needs to do is bring the legislation to the floor that will pay TSA agents, and reopen the departments of Homeland Security that have nothing to do with ICE…” Jeffries said.
The effort needs at least four Republican signatures to succeed in the narrowly divided House, but so far, none have emerged.
TSA officials are warning of staffing shortages due to unpaid workers calling out or quitting. At least 366 workers have already left since February, which could force some smaller airports to shut down if the impasse continues.
Call-out rates have spiked to 55% at certain locations, and spring break travelers are bearing the brunt of massive delays at hubs like Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans.
Also Read: Trump Message to Unpaid Workers as Schumer and Jeffries Face the Heat in DHS Funding Standoff
Airline CEOs have publicly urged Congress to act, and even business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have called for an immediate end to the partial shutdown to avoid wider economic damage.
Both sides digging in
Johnson and White House officials frame the standoff as Democrats prioritizing “protecting criminal illegal aliens” over American safety and TSA families.
Democrats, on the other hand, have been countering that Republicans are using essential workers as leverage to push an extreme immigration agenda, rejecting compromise after compromise.
Amid the shutdown, which is nearing the second-longest partial closure in U.S. history, the biggest casualties are the frustrated flyers and unpaid federal employees caught in the middle of the crisis.
With no breakthrough in sight and both parties trading barbs, the question remains: How much longer will political gridlock keep security lines frozen and paychecks on hold?
For millions trying to get home or away this spring, the answer can’t come soon enough.
