Negotiations for Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – which oversees airport security officers – remained ongoing as the airport in Atlanta, the world’s busiest, dealt with long security lines on Tuesday.
A White House official confirmed that Senate Democrats sent a counteroffer on Monday aimed at resolving a budget standoff that led to a DHS shutdown into its second month. A Trump administration official confirmed to the Guardian that the offer by Democrats was under review, though Republican lawmakers were quick to dismiss the proposal.
Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for the Republican US Senate majority leader, John Thune, mocked the move on X, suggesting the proposal was a “copy-and-paste” of previous iterations.
“It took 18 days for them to hit ‘Ctrl C’ and ‘Ctrl V’,” Wrasse wrote, reposting a report by NBC’s White House correspondent Julie Tsirkin about the Democrats’ counteroffer.
The stalemate unfolded after Democrats refused to fund the DHS in an attempt to force immigration enforcement reforms after federal immigration agents fatally shot US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, in the streets of Minneapolis in separate cases in January.
The Democrats’ maneuver prompted a partial shutdown affecting the DHS, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have had to work without pay since because they are considered essential workers. Some officers as a result have not shown up to work, leading to long security lines at some of the US’s largest airports.
At the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airport, passengers saw lines stretching over two hours on Tuesday morning, according to CNN. Houston’s George Bush intercontinental airport, meanwhile, saw wait times fluctuate between 90 and 100 minutes.
More than 300 TSA agents have quit, according to the DHS, and officers by Monday had missed their first full paycheck since the start of the shutdown. Officers have been left with few options, especially amid rising fuel costs because of the war in Iran started by the US and Israel – their average salary is $35,000, according to Airlines for America.
Officers taking unscheduled time off has combined with the surge in resignations to contribute to the security line delays, also reported at major airports like the ones in Austin, Atlanta and New Orleans.
“Across the country, TSA officers are once again being asked to report to work without a paycheck,” said Everett Kelley, American Federation of Government Employees national president, a union that represents over 47,000 transportation security officers. “They have families, mortgages and bills like everyone else. Yet they are being told to come to work every day without knowing when they will be paid.”
Democrats have tried to fund TSA and DHS agencies not pertaining to immigration enforcement individually. But Republicans, resisting forced immigration enforcement reforms, have blocked those attempts.
“As the financial pressure grows, more workers will be forced into impossible choices,” Kelley added. “The lines will get longer. The delays will get worse. The officers who haven’t left for more reliable employment will carry the burden of a system that treats them as expendable. It’s long past time for Congress to get together and pay the folks keeping American air travelers safe.”
The private sector has warned the travel industry faces mounting disruption the longer the budgetary standoff drags out. CEOs from major carriers, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, wrote to Congress on Sunday demanding that funding be restored to the DHS.
“Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,” the CEOs wrote in the letter. “First, leaders should immediately come together to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” they added.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump urged TSA agents to “go to work” in a weekend post on the president’s Truth Social platform.
“I promise that I will never forget you!!!” he added.
