FIRST ON FOX: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) leadership said airports and the agency will suffer from “longstanding” negative impacts as a result of the current partial government shutdown, even after a spending bill is passed.
TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl sat down with Fox News Digital to detail how the agency will recover from what has been weeks of forgone pay for TSA officers, leading to what TSA says are the highest security wait times in the history of the agency.
“I can tell you right now that the reverberations that will be felt from this will be longstanding. They will continue for days after we get a re-appropriation and funding, particularly for the department for TSA,” Stahl told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We are already taking proactive measures to make sure that we’re going to get our people paid as quickly as possible.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains unfunded after more than 40 days, leaving TSA screeners and agents missing a full month’s pay. Call-outs have increased to dramatic levels, and DHS says more than 480 people have outright quit the TSA workforce.
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Even after Congress funds the agency, Stahl says it is “going to take time to pay” agents who have been working without pay.
“There are systems in place, financial systems that are outside of a department that we rely on to again, dispense and disperse funds, salaries to our folks, but it will take some time,” Stahl explained. “But we’re working as quickly as possible with our partners to make sure once we get that money, we’ll hit the ground running and get that into our people’s pockets as quickly as possible.”
TSA’s deputy administrator also expressed concerns about the workforce’s return to airports following a potential funding package, noting the World Cup taking place in the U.S. this year will create an additional strain on air travel security.
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“Last time we saw an increase in 25% of attrition immediately following the first shutdown previously in this fiscal year,” Stahl told Fox News Digital. “We’re concerned, and we have the World Cup coming up as well with an expected six to ten million travelers on top of a busy summer travel season, so we could really be in a difficult position for the long term.”
“It’s going to take time to readjust to get our folks paid,” Stahl added.
On Wednesday evening, a procedural vote to fund DHS failed, tacking on the previous five times the spending bill had been voted down.
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The bill can only pass with a 60-vote threshold required to break the filibuster. Several Senate Democrats have crossed party lines to support funding the department, but votes have still remained shy of 60.
Senate Democrats have insisted that revisions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, like the requirement of judicial warrants and the removal of face coverings for agents, be included in the spending bill.
Senate Republicans have said that if Senate Democrats want reforms, then they must also be willing to fund ICE. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Democrats are “going in circles” while TSA, FEMA and other DHS employees continue to work without pay.
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“They know better,” Thune told reporters after Wednesday evening’s vote. “They’re asking for things that have already been turned down. So it just seems like they’re going in circles.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took to the Senate Floor on Wednesday to punch back at the GOP’s stance.
“Over the weekend, Democrats had constructive conversations in person with our Republican colleagues,” Schumer said. “They, the Republican colleagues, conceded that some of the reforms, verbally, that we have been looking for, they said these make sense.”
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As the congressional gridlock continues, Stahl said the agency has suspended escort services for members of Congress given their limited resources without funding.
“We proactively took the step of suspending all members of Congress escort services as just purely when this started to happen, because we fundamentally feel like we should not be expending resources to provide a security screening, expedite security screening to our members of Congress at this time,” Stahl told Fox News Digital. “Our focus is on serving the masses of American people and that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on every single day.”
Last weekend, President Donald Trump deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports to provide support to the weakened workforce. Agents have been seen at a number of airports across the country since the deployment.
When asked how long ICE agents would remain at airports following the passage of a spending bill, Stahl said the agents have alleviated tensions and challenges, though their tenure at airports depends on how quickly normal TSA operations can resume.
“Hopefully, we won’t need them much longer,” Stahl explained. “But again, they’ve been incredibly helpful, and we really appreciate the support from the president and from ICE.”
“It really necessitates and underscores the importance for us to get back in normal order, for the Senate Democrats to fund the Department, [to] fund TSA, so we can get back to normal order,” Stahl added.
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