More than 300 Transportation Security Administration employees quit the agency nearly one month into the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Approximately 50,000 TSA employees have been required to work since the DHS shutdown began on Feb. 14, because they are deemed essential. However, they are not being paid. As a result, many have opted to leave, internal TSA data obtained by CBS News shows.
The TSA recorded 305 “employee separations” from the beginning of the shutdown through Monday.
DHS officials, the outlet reports, are concerned that more employees may head for the exits after Friday, when they will have gone without their first full paycheck. Additionally, they are wary that future shutdowns will lessen the effectiveness of the government’s recruitment efforts.
The TSA has also seen higher rates of unexcused call-outs by frontline officers over the past month, CBS reports. Before the shutdown, it was about two percent, but the average since Valentine’s Day is six percent. Certain days were higher, with nine percent on Feb. 23, though a blizzard in the Northeast also had a role in attendance then.
The shutdown has contributed to long lines at airports during peak spring break travel windows.
Passengers at Houston’s Hobby Airport faced 3.5 hours of delays on Sunday, KHOU 11 News reported, while fliers departing from New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport were advised to give themselves at least three hours of potential wait time.
According to CBS, 53 percent of officers at Hobby Airport had called out that day. The next day, 47 percent did.
New Orleans’ airport, meanwhile, has averaged a 14 percent call-out rate.
When reached for comment, a DHS spokesperson told CBS that the shutdown was the Democrats’ fault.
TSA employees were being forced to work without pay “for the THIRD time in nearly six months,” they wrote. “The longer this shutdown drags on, the more financial hardship our patriotic officers and their families face, leading to more staffing issues and longer wait times for travelers.”
The spokesperson added: “It’s time for Democrats to end these political games, pay our TSA officers, and re-open DHS.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Tuesday that Democrats continue to want to reform immigration enforcement agencies like ICE, and are withholding that funding until the Trump administration engages. Schumer added that his party had offered Republicans separate funding for the TSA, but they had blocked it.
The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS for comment.
The TSA staffing issue is on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s plate until the end of the month; Donald Trump fired her last Thursday. Trump’s replacement for her, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, will then have to pick up the pieces.
