ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith ripped both Democrats and Republicans for the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which has led to staffing shortages and delays at airports around the country.
“The shutdown is just egregious,” Smith told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday. “Both sides of the aisle should be ashamed for that.”
For close to five weeks, DHS has gone without regular appropriations, with Democrats blocking funding until Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are reformed, following the surge in operations in Minnesota, which led to the January killings of two U.S. citizens.
As a result, roughly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers have gone without pay and hundreds have left the force, resulting in lengthy lines at airport security checkpoints and caused some travelers to miss their flights.
“Now we’ve got TSA workers, 366 have resigned, 10 percent have been calling in out of work, skipping days this past Sunday, and yesterday as well,” Smith, who has mused about running for president, told NewsNation.
“The airports are packed to the hilt, flights are being delayed, people are petrified because they don’t know what’s coming up next,” Smith added. “That’s not a win. That’s not a good situation for either side of the aisle to be in, and somebody is going to pay the piper for that.”
Government officials have warned that, unless the shutdown is resolved soon, the situation at travel hubs could worsen.
“It’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up,” Adam Stahl, the acting deputy administrator of the TSA, told Fox News on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has sought to pin the blame on Democrats, with DHS accusing them of “holding American travelers hostage” and undermining airport safety. On Wednesday, Trump said Democrats are “FULLY TO BLAME” and called on them to “pay a big price” in the midterm elections.
Congressional Democrats have pointed fingers at their GOP colleagues.
“I checked, it was Republicans that control every branch of government in Washington, D.C.,” Rep. Jason Crow, Colorado Democrat, told The Washington Times. “I am not going to bargain with the lives of Americans when you have an agency that’s murdering Americans in the street running around with masks and unmarked vehicles, snatching people off the streets and putting them in prisons without hearings and without court review.”
There are signs the lapse in funding could soon be remedied.
On Tuesday, the White House offered several concessions to Democrats, including expanding the use of body cameras for federal immigration enforcement agents and limiting their operations at schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Although not a formal concession, Trump also dismissed DHS chief Kristi Noem on March 5, following a pair of scathing congressional hearings.
On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he intends to introduce a discharge petition to fund DHS agencies — including TSA, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard — but excluding ICE and CBP.
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