By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) – A senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday that if a government funding standoff continues, it may force the shutdown of some smaller airports in the coming weeks owing to a shortage of security personnel.
The partial government shutdown, now in its 31st day, has forced 50,000 Transportation Security Administration airport security officers to work without pay for the last month, and 10% of them failed to show up for duty on Sunday.
“As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports – particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up,” Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said airports “are reaching a breaking point.” The partial government shutdown has disrupted travel at times and prompted CEOs of the nation’s largest airlines to call for a quick end as spring break travel is in full swing.
Typically, under 2% of TSA workers call in sick or do not report to work, DHS said. At Atlanta, New York JFK and Houston, the rates for failing to show up for work have been about 20% since February 14, when funding expired.
DHS said 366 TSA officers have left during the shutdown. On Sunday and Monday, absences spiked over 50% in Houston and more than 30% in New Orleans and Atlanta, with travelers sometimes enduring lines for two hours or longer.
Last fall, a 43-day government shutdown led to widespread flight disruptions and the FAA ordered a 10% flight cut at major airports. “Once again air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,” the CEOs wrote.
Senators from both parties failed Thursday in competing efforts to fund the TSA.
DHS funding lapsed on February 13 after Congress failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms demanded by Democrats.
Airlines are expecting a record-breaking spring travel period, with 171 million passengers expected to fly, up 4% from the same two-month period last year.
Some airports have closed a number of security checkpoints and others are working to raise money to help TSA workers buy food or other essentials as they go without pay.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Pooja Desai)
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