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.
