Up until now, it was not clear what was the root cause for some of the long security lines we’ve seen at key airports across the USA over the last week. The partial government shutdown? Just the normal surge in spring break travelers? Bad weather? But we now have an answer: it appears the shutdown is indeed leading to a massive uptick in TSA screeners calling in sick.
TSA Chaos Is Getting Worse As Screeners Calling In Sick In Huge Numbers
One Mile At A Time flags data highlighted by CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave, absentee rates among TSA officers are rising sharply, and in some cases, reaching extreme levels.
- On March 15, roughly 10% of TSA officers nationwide called in sick, compared to a normal rate of around 2%
- At Houston Hobby Airport (HOU), 55% of screeners called in sick on March 14
- That follows several days in which absentee rates exceeded 40% at the same airport
Digging in deeper at HOU, we see an alarmingly high absentee rate:
HOU – 3/14/2026: 55.07%
HOU – 3/8/2026: 53.06%
HOU – 3/9/2026: 47.06%
HOU – 3/7/2026: 41.27%
HOU – 3/1/2026: 40.57%
The big uptick coincides with the spring break for Houston public schools. When children are not at school, it becomes harder to care for them…or pay for care for them when you are not receiving your paycheck.
This Is What Happens When TSA Isn’t Paid
There are roughly 50,000 TSA officers nationwide, and they are currently working without pay due to the Department of Homeland Security funding lapse. At some point, this stops being sustainable.
People can’t afford childcare. They can’t afford gas. They can’t afford to show up to work indefinitely without a paycheck. So they don’t. The result is exactly what we’re now seeing: fewer screeners, longer lines, and a system that begins to fray at the edges.
And we’re already seeing the impact in real time, with reports of multi-hour security waits at major airports and growing congestion as staffing thins out.
Folks, this isn’t complicated.
Politics Behind The Problem
President Donald Trump has blamed Democrats for the situation, urging TSA officers to continue reporting to work despite missing paychecks:
Thank you to Johnny Jones and all of our GREAT TSA Agents who are going to work but not being paid because the Radical Left Democrats refuse to honor the deal that was approved and voted on in Congress. They want your money to go to “Border Criminals, Murderers, foreign Drug Dealers, and some of the worst people on earth.” They don’t want it to go to you. Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!! President DJT
But that is only one side of the story.
Democrats have pushed for standalone funding measures to immediately pay TSA officers and restore aviation security operations. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee explained:
“This isn’t complicated: if Republicans won’t agree to rein in ICE and Border Patrol, they should at minimum work with us to pay TSA agents and fund disaster relief. But they won’t. Right now, Republicans are holding TSA agents’ paychecks hostage because they want to provide more money to ICE, without basic reforms to protect Americans’ rights and safety. Democrats will keep fighting to get TSA workers paid and fund FEMA and the Coast Guard, and we’ll keep pushing to enact common-sense steps to prevent more Americans from being hurt, or even killed, by masked federal agents.”
Senate Republicans have blocked five separate bills offered by Senate Democrats to fund key components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the TSA as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)—while negotiations continue on measures to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Republicans, meanwhile, have largely insisted that any funding package include broader immigration enforcement provisions, including funding for ICE.
That disagreement has left TSA in limbo, even as the real-world consequences are becoming increasingly visible at airports across the country.
CONCLUSION
The latest data makes clear that this is not just about busy travel periods or spring break crowds. When more than half of screeners at a major airport call in sick, we see the system is close to collapsing.
And this isn’t a brand new phenomenon. The longer TSA officers go unpaid, the worse the situation becomes…we’ve seen this in past shutdowns.
At some point, the system will reach a breaking point. The only question is how much disruption travelers will endure before Washington acts…
image: TSA
F both parties who are acting like petulant children.
I know we will get the defenders on both sides here blaming the other but both are in the wrong here and hard working Americans are paying the price.
Is it any wonder why so many Americans don’t even bother to vote?
Kyle, you know I love ya and appreciate your comments. I am a registered Republican who worked for GWB. But…I just don’t see how Dems can be blamed here. They’ve offered funding for TSA six times, but GOP refuses. Trying to hold ICE accountable strikes me as reasonable, even though I would not go so far as some Dems have demanded (like making schools and churches as off-limits…if there are violent criminals there, I want them arrested and deported). GOP has the majority in both Houses…if Senate Republicans want to blame filibuster rules for the lack of funding, it should be noted that the GOP is also in charge of Senate Rules. And if the GOP is unwilling to change filibuster rules (I agree…I love the filibuster), then they better be willing to compromise with Dems. There’s no reason TSA agents and travelers should suffer. Fund the TSA. Fund the Coast Guard. Fund other agencies and then work out a compromise on the immigration stuff…that’s the price of not having 60 members of the caucus!
Oof. Nice ‘both sides’ nihilism ya got there… if you’re a conservative, feel free to sit it out. How principled. For the rest of us… 231 days until the midterms. Vote.
“When there’s a shutdown, it means the President is weak…” — Our current President. Oh irony.
“Is it any wonder why so many Americans don’t even bother to vote?” Kyle, I always read your comments because they’re succinct and represent a side of issues I don’t normally think about. But don’t fall into the generalization mode; it cheapens the message.
The thing is, the TSA workers are there to provide a service and they get paid for it; they’re not there out of the goodness of their hearts. How many people are going to work under the ‘we’ll pay you sometime” idea? It’s a safe bet many of these workers live paycheck to paycheck. And that they have dependents at home who rely on their paycheck to do things like, I don’t know, eat?
Anyway, don’t flame me. And please don’t go all Meghan Markle & sue me for suggesting something.
Peace out
P.S. I still have a ‘Moratorium’ blue button from 1969 when, as a hip 10 year old I protested the Vietnam war. I have, as the centuries have passed, become far more conservative in my outlook.
P.P,S. I think Nixon was a great president. Yep.
Never too late for Congress to undo the post-9/11 ridiculousness and thereby again let the airlines and airports hire security screeners for US airports. The airlines and airports were thrilled to get out of paying for airport security screeners and loved that they could directly dump the costs of the security screening operations onto the taxpayers and consumers. It’s time to fix the situation and make the airlines and airports take responsibility for a function that used to be the airlines and airports until 9/11 drove the country crazy.
Marvellous to watch Trumpton collapsing just like a third world country which is all that it now is with a criminal in charge too busy waging war on other countries illegally.
What strikes me as peculiar is the belief that TSA is “providing a service”. They are not. The TSA was created as a result of lax protocols that enabled the 9/11/01 terrorists to board and then commandeer aircraft with the express purpose of crashing them into highly symbolic and important targets. My point is, if the TSA is a national security and public safety tool (which I believe them to be based on their mission and role), then they should be paid regardless of the politics or the appropriations, it should go without question that certain labor categories simply get funded, period. That said, the Department of Homeland Security apparently has the right to re-jigger it’s funding to prioritize the salary of key personnel but has chosen to deliberately withhold TSA salaries to cause the most uproar by the public and make Democrats cave. If so, then the leadership at DHS should be sacked and brought up on charges of willful harm to the national transportation system.
Agreed @BDAGuy.
BTW, a reminder to those here with precheck (so everybody). You can opt for Touchless ID through your airline (you need to do it for each indivifually through them). At DFW, at least, the Touchless entrance gave you immediate access to an agent, as thst line never exceeded one person. This does, of course, speed you up by slowing others down. Thus, in times like this, I wouldn’t use it assuming I have the time.