Air travel across the United States slowed sharply on Tuesday as an unprecedented wave of Transportation Security Administration absences rippled through major and regional airports alike.
According to Western Journal, roughly 2,700 TSA officers about 10 percent of the agencys screening workforce failed to report for duty, triggering long lines and operational strain at some of the nations busiest hubs.
Atlanta and New Orleans saw the biggest impacts with nearly 40 percent of officers calling out in each airport, according to a report by ABC News, a level of absenteeism far beyond what the system is designed to absorb.
The disruption was especially acute in Houston and New York, where nearly 41 percent of officers at William P. Hobby Airport called in sick and 30 percent of agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport did not report for work.
On a normal day, only about 2 percent of TSA officers are absent, the network reported, underscoring how dramatically the current situation departs from standard operating conditions.
These staffing gaps coincided with TSA employees receiving their first $0 paychecks as a result of the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, a standoff driven by a partisan funding battle on Capitol Hill.
Staff shortages had already been causing delays in recent weeks, but the latest figures suggest the strain on the system is intensifying as federal workers go unpaid.
Acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl told ABC that the impact could soon extend beyond longer lines to outright interruptions in air service, particularly at smaller facilities.
Over a hundred airports in the United States have around one or two lanes, he said. And if we have a certain amount of callouts increase, we might have to quite literally collapse those lanes and close those lanes, which could temporarily halt operations at that airport.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security placed responsibility squarely on congressional Democrats, accusing them of repeatedly weaponizing shutdowns to advance a progressive spending agenda.
The Democrats reckless DHS shutdown is causing TSA officers to go without pay for the third time in nearly six months, the agency said in a statement to ABC News, highlighting the human cost of political brinkmanship.
The statement continued, Many TSA officers cannot pay their rent, buy food, or afford to put gas in their cars forcing them to call out sick from work. Now, Americans are facing HOURS long waits at airports across the country. Democrats must reopen DHS now.
From DHSs perspective, the crisis is not a bureaucratic failure but a deliberate result of Democrats refusal to fund core security functions without securing concessions for their own priorities.
President Donald Trump has echoed that assessment, using social media to condemn what he describes as a calculated effort by the left to leverage national inconvenience for political gain.
The crazed Democrats are not allowing TSA Agents to get paid. The deal was made a long time ago, he wrote Monday on Truth Social. They broke it in order to get money for Sanctuary Cities and illegal aliens, many of them hardened criminals. The Radical Left Democrats are hopeless!!!
In a separate post Wednesday, the commander in chief sharpened his warning, tying the airport turmoil directly to Democratic leadership and its demands.
The [Democrats] purposeful DHS SHUTDOWN is causing chaos at the airports. These Lunatics are being totally unreasonable in their Radical Left asks. They are FULLY TO BLAME, and must pay a big price, for the good of our Country, in the Midterm Elections.
With travelers now facing hours-long waits and the prospect of temporary airport closures, the standoff over DHS funding has moved beyond abstract budget lines into the daily lives of ordinary Americans.
As security officers struggle to cover basic expenses and the nations transportation system absorbs the shock, pressure is mounting on Democrats in Congress to abandon shutdown tactics, restore pay for front-line personnel, and allow the federal governments core security mission to function without being held hostage to progressive wish lists.
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