TSA wait times may not get better any time soon. Here’s what you should know if you’re flying

Travelers stuck in line for hours at airport security this week are the latest victims of a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for nearly a month.

“Travelers stuck in line for hours at airport security this week are the latest victims of a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for nearly a month”

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Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed in mid-February amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over immigration reform.

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Now, Transportation Security Administration screeners are about to miss a paycheck just as the Spring Break travel season heats up.

While most of the more than 430 commercial airports in the US have TSA staff, some locations have seen an outsized impact.

Security lines at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport stretched for more than three hours on Sunday and Monday, and the airport advised passengers to arrive four to five hours before their flights before reducing the recommendation to three to four hours.

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Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport reported waits up to two hours and advised passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight, later saying waits had dropped to up to an hour and recommending arrival two hours early.

Other airports that saw long wait times included Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Charlotte Douglas International, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

TSA PreCheck lines remain open at most airports, while Global Entry remains closed; DHS initially said PreCheck would close so agents could focus on standard lanes but quickly reversed course and said it "will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations."

“Travelers stuck in line for hours at airport security this week are the latest victims of a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for nearly a month”

CNN

About 61,000 TSA employees must keep working during the shutdown, many of whom "live paycheck to paycheck," Ha Nguyen McNeill, a senior official performing the duties of TSA administrator, said in written testimony for a House subcommittee hearing before the funding lapsed.

TSA employees received only a partial paycheck on February 28 and will miss their first full paycheck on March 14, and the union said many workers are already picking up other jobs.

A bipartisan group of 16 House members introduced legislation in January to guarantee federal employees, military service members, reservists and contractors get paid in full and on time in the event of a government shutdown, but similar pieces debated in the Senate have not become law.

Union leaders called on Congress to fund DHS or find a way to pay TSA workers in the interim, with Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of AFGE TSA Council 100, saying, "It seems like (lawmakers) are having a problem doing their job, which is passing funding bill would allow us to be paid."

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Some DHS workers continue to get paychecks — sworn officers in ICE, Customs and Border Patrol and the Secret Service, as well as Coast Guard military personnel — because their salaries are funded by the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill," a senior administration official said.

The union said the situation is "a catastrophe for the workforce," Lauren Bis, a DHS spokesperson, said that frontline workers "received only partial paychecks earlier this month and now face their first full missed paycheck, leading to financial hardship, absences, and crippling staffing shortages," and while federal employees are guaranteed back pay once the shutdown ends under a 2019 law, the union is not optimistic a deal is imminent.

As DHS waits for funding, they are also waiting for a new leader: President Donald Trump fired Secretary Kristi Noem last week and tapped Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her starting March 31.