Some Transportation Security Administration employees have been forced to sell blood to make ends meet after missing paychecks during the partial government shutdown.
Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told CBS Mornings: “We have individuals sleeping in their cars, drawing blood to afford to pay for gas to get to work.”
“Our people are hurting,” he said in a Wednesday interview.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Daily Beast: “As the Democrat-led DHS shutdown rages on, TSA officers are facing the difficult decision of either putting food on the table for their children or paying for gas to commute to work.”
“This has led to high call-out rates, causing significant staffing constraints. As these situations arise, TSA officials evaluate operations on an airport-to-airport basis and adjust accordingly.”
A Department of Homeland Security spending shutdown has forced 50,000 TSA officers to work without pay. It marks the third time in under a year that a government shutdown has left TSA employees without pay.
The partial shutdown entered its second month in March, with Senate Democrats and Republicans at an impasse over DHS funding.
Democrats are pushing for immigration agents to be required to get judicial warrants before entering private homes and a ban on masks that hide agents’ identities after two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were killed in Minnesota during DHS’ Operation Metro Surge. Republicans have so far refused to meet those demands.
With no agreement to end the shutdown in place, Stahl told CBS Mornings that around 300 TSA officers have quit and reported that the number of TSA officers calling in sick is rising.
Some airports were hit especially hard. Nearly 41 percent of officers called out in Houston, about 36 percent in New Orleans, and more than 37 percent in Atlanta, forcing a checkpoint closure at the nation’s busiest airport.
Meanwhile, wait times at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston reached 103 minutes.
Amid the chaos, Stahl told CBS that airports may have to be shut down.
“If the call rate does climb, there could be scenarios where we may have to shut down airports,” he said. “This is a serious situation.”
Trump has capitalized on the turmoil, blaming Democrats for the chaos and asking voters to punish them in upcoming midterm elections.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, he accused Democrats of causing “chaos at the airports” and branded them “Lunatics” over their “Radical Left asks.”
He added that Democrats were “FULLY TO BLAME” and “must pay a big price” in the midterms. “Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!!” he wrote in another post.
Stahl has urged Senate Democrats to resume negotiations.
“I believe it’s frankly unconscionable that we have Senate Democrats that are... holding our folks’ financial livelihood hostage over political games, political partisanship. So we really need to get back to normal order,” he told Fox News.
“If there’s not action taken, particularly from Senate Democrats, this is going to get worse, it’s not going to get better, and there will be significant pain [for] the passenger as well,” he continued.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats were “trying to move a little bit,” but also said the White House had not budged on the key issues and has “got to get serious.”
Asked for comment by the Daily Beast, White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said: “The Democrats should immediately vote to fund DHS. Their politically motivated shutdown is hurting hardworking TSA officers and their families.”
