Another busy travel weekend begins as uncertainty looms over TSA workers’ pay

By Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — A particularly busy spring break travel weekend is underway, and travelers are enduring more long lines at some airports nationwide even as the Department of Homeland Security has said Transportation Security Administration workers should begin receiving paychecks on Monday after weeks of a partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump issued a promised memo Friday calling for TSA workers to be paid immediately, but union officials say there is confusion about how the move will roll out. “I think one of the questions from the workforce is, ‘Well, is this temporary, or is TSA fully funded now?’” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA Council 100.

The DHS shutdown has led to nearly 500 TSA employees quitting and thousands more calling out of work as many struggle to afford gas, child care, food and housing, the agency said. TSA agents have been making dire sacrifices to offset the financial impacts of not being paid over the last several weeks.

TSA staffing shortages have triggered hourslong waits and lines snaking in and out of airports. People waited in line for hours Friday at major airport hubs in cities nationwide, such as Baltimore, Houston, New York and Atlanta.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, about 30 miles from Capitol Hill, said “we have not previously experienced checkpoint wait times” like Saturday’s, advising weekend travelers to arrive four hours before their scheduled departures.

Kevin, a traveler from Virginia, told CNN affiliate WBAL he had been waiting in lines outside the Baltimore airport and stepped inside to escape cold temperatures. “There’s babies outside, the elderly, people in wheelchairs, they’re freezing,” he said.

“The US Congress is a disgrace. Absolute disgrace. Both parties,” he said. “This is pretty basic services we expect from our government and you’ve completely failed us.”

Cool weather and wind gusts settled over lines resembling a maze both inside and outside the airport, creating confusion and chaos. Travelers bundled up in jackets, blankets and sweatpants, babies settled in parents’ arms and young children ran around.

One traveler said she was attempting to take a nap on her neck pillow while standing in line. “We’ve been here since 5:45 a.m. We’ve missed our flight, again, because we were diverted yesterday,” she told WBAL. “So, it’s a struggle but everybody’s being very cheery, or trying to be.”

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the security line previously stretched to almost two hours, according to CNN’s tracker. The airport is getting help from 32 TSA National Deployment Officers, who travel to assist airports, but they are not enough to make up for the staffing shortage, the airport system said in an online update.

Deployment officers were seen arriving at the Houston airport Saturday morning, according to CNN affiliate KPRC.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where massive lines have been a regular occurrence throughout the shutdown, had relatively short security wait times and smaller lines Saturday morning.

Bill Musgrave, traveling to Chattanooga, Tennessee, following his flight from the Caribbean after visiting Morocco, told CNN he was pleasantly surprised after bracing for expected Atlanta crowds.

But as the shutdown continues and TSA workers remain unpaid: “In November, I will remember,” Musgrave said.

Here are the latest developments:

• Shutdown likely to continue: House Republicans pushed through their own Department of Homeland Security funding bill Friday night after rejecting a deal passed by the Senate with bipartisan support. The House version is a short-term measure that will extend funding for the entire department for eight weeks. Senate Democrats have already said the House GOP plan will be dead on arrival in their chamber.
• Deployed ICE agents may move into new roles: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may be aiding TSA agents as soon as Saturday after completing new training, border czar Tom Homan said. He did not specify what type of training or positions they could be moved to. Agents have fanned out this week in 14 airports nationwide to assist with TSA staffing shortages and record-long lines and waits. They have been verifying travelers’ IDs at some airports, guarding entrances and exits, and helping with logistics and crowd control, DHS said. But ICE agents in mass numbers are “not very helpful,” Yolanda Keaton, TSA officer and union steward, said Saturday.
• Funding TSA won’t fix long lines overnight: Even if the shutdown ends, it could take days or weeks for airport security checkpoints to return to full staffing levels and for the long lines to disappear, union leaders said.
• Busy travel weekend approaches: As airports brace for a busy spring break travel weekend, passengers were met by lines stretching outside the building. “What we are dealing with is 100% of spring break traffic trying to squeeze through 50% or less of our TSA checkpoints, so the math does not work,” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System, said in an online video.
• When will TSA workers be paid? DHS sent messages to TSA officers Friday informing them they should “expect most of their backpay” as soon as Monday. The agency also said, “all employees must return to work on their next scheduled workday,” starting on Saturday. It’s unclear how long DHS will be able to pay TSA workers if Congress doesn’t approve its funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

TSA officers make dire sacrifices

TSA workers have told CNN they’re becoming increasingly desperate for financial relief as roughly 61,000 of them anxiously await their paychecks during the six-week congressional stalemate.

Many TSA employees live paycheck to paycheck, making an average of $35,000 a year, according to AFGE.

TSA worker Tatiana Finlay is just one of the workers making sacrifices to make ends meet. She has been forced to borrow gas money from her 15-year-old daughter’s birthday gift fund and ration her own food so her three children can eat.

“I’ve been skipping meals just hoping to stretch that dollar, because I want to make sure that they have the food,” Finlay said.

Rachel, a TSA agent and mother who requested her last name not be shared publicly, described having to leave work to pick up her child and head directly to WIC to get assistance for her family. “I have to go get government assistance from the same government that I work for. And I shouldn’t have to do that,” she said.

TSA officer Jackson Oliver has considered leaving his job, but he stressed he isn’t doing the work just for a paycheck and won’t give up without a fight. He has taken a second job to support his family, as well as managing full-time schooling and flight training while not being paid.

Public and union support during the shutdown has been vital to easing some of the financial and emotional burden for TSA workers, as airports coordinate gift card drives for gas and groceries, food pantries and other donations.

“Donations of gas cards and gift cards — these things are really helping folks get through the day-to-day operations,” Oliver said.

Oksana Kelly, a TSA agent in Orlando, told CNN’s Victor Blackwell Saturday morning her husband, also a TSA agent, has begun delivering food on his days off. The couple has reconsidered working at TSA in lieu of something more stable, she said.

“When we first started federal jobs 10 years ago, it was one of those things like, ‘Hey, you got a federal job. You’ve made it in life,’” Kelly said. “And right now, it’s ‘Oh, wow, I’m sorry you guys have a federal job.’ So, it’s extremely discouraging.”

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CNN’s Rafael Romo, Ryan Young, Chris Youd, Rebekah Riess, Elizabeth Wolfe, Sydney Bishop, Riane Lumer, Taylor Galgano, Maria Aguilar Prieto and Hanna Park contributed to this report.