ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� Regardless of politics or destination, American air travelers were unified by one desire Saturday: It’s time to pay Transportation Security Administration employees.
鈥淓verybody got bills they have to pay, and it鈥檚 horrible,” said Patrice Clark, whose trip to Las Vegas began Saturday with a nearly four-hour at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. “Times are hard for everybody at this point. Working and not getting paid and gas prices are extremely high 鈥� like everybody needs their money. They need to pay them.鈥�
TSA officers haven’t gotten a paycheck since the U.S. partly shut down on Feb. 14. Democrats balked at funding the agency, while other departments are unaffected, demanding changes to immigration enforcement by federal agents following the shooting deaths of and in Minneapolis.
Some travelers arrive 4 hours early
Christian Childress is a private flight attendant, so when he is working, he doesn鈥檛 . But the Redwood City, California, resident frequently goes through a checkpoint when flying commercial to get to his job.
Childress said shutdown effects have been 鈥渉it or miss鈥� thus far. He came to the Atlanta airport nearly three hours before his 1:30 p.m. Saturday flight to Nashville, Tennessee, for a leisure trip. Some passengers have been arriving even earlier in Atlanta 鈥� one of the world鈥檚 busiest airports 鈥� spooked about missing flights because of delays.
鈥淚ssue No. 1 should be paying the people who need to get paid and keeping our air travel system secure,鈥� Childress said. 鈥淭hen they can debate whatever they want to debate about homeland security.鈥�
Some passengers said it is time for Democrats to give up on the shutdown.
鈥淚 don’t want to go between the Democrats and the Republicans, but I think the Democrats are holding everything up because they can’t get their way,鈥� said Tyrone Williams, a retiree from the Atlanta suburb of Ellenwood. He was queued up for screening before his flight to Philadelphia on Saturday.
Atlanta’s checkpoint wait time spiked as high as 90 minutes on Saturday morning before melting away to nothing in the afternoon on what is typically one of the slowest days of the week for air travel. have forced some airports to close checkpoints at times, with .
Trump says he will send ICE to airports
Concerns about long airport lines are increasingly capturing attention.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he will to take a role in airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
The president said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would bring the administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown into the nation鈥檚 airports, arresting 鈥渁ll Illegal Immigrants鈥� with a focus on those from Somalia.
鈥淚 look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, 鈥淕ET READY.鈥� NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!鈥� Trump wrote.
Funding for the whole department failed to advance in the Senate on Friday after Democrats declined to support a bill. On Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to fund TSA. Republicans argue that they need to fund all of the department, not just parts.
Travelers 鈥榞rateful鈥� for unpaid TSA workers
The vast majority of are considered essential, and roughly 50,000 continue to work without pay during the funding lapse. Nationwide on Thursday, about 10% of TSA officers missed work, the department reported. Absentee rates were two or three times higher in places.
Merissa Thomas arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday after a quick trip through a checkpoint at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.
鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful for people who are willing to sacrifice a lot to make sure we鈥檙e safe,鈥� Thomas said.
Union leaders and federal officials say TSA officers are . Airport screeners have spent nearly half of the past 171 days with paychecks delayed by politics 鈥� 43 days last fall during the longest in history, four days earlier this year during a brief funding lapse, and now 36 days and counting during the current shutdown.
At least 376 officers have quit since this shutdown began, according to officials, exacerbating turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government鈥檚 highest attrition and lowest employee morale.
鈥淔rom now on I would drive wherever I have to go until they get this figured out,鈥� said Clark, the delayed traveler. 鈥淚t was horrible.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in West Palm Beach, Florida, Ty O’Neil in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed.
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