Washington – The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, where employees are going unpaid amid a partial government shutdown, said on Monday that unscheduled absences among U.S. airport security officers rose to a record 10 percent on Sunday as the shutdown reached its 31st day.
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The agency said the rate was up from the previous high of 7 percent on Saturday. It also was more than three times the 3.1 percent absence rate on the same day last year, when the government also was partially closed due to legislative funding issues.
As the partial government shutdown continues, air safety has become a top concern as the number of TSA agents not showing up for work grows.
The agency said many employees, who are not being paid because of the shutdown, are not reporting to work because of financial hardships.
More than 50,000 TSA officers are among some 800,000 federal workers have been ordered to stay home or work without pay during the shutdown.
Nearly all 1.78 million passengers screened Sunday faced normal security waits of 30 minutes or less, despite the absences, TSA said.
Some airports experienced longer wait times at security checkpoints, and on Sunday, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport closed one of its checkpoints because of excessive absences.
About one-quarter of the U.S. government has been shuttered since Dec. 22 over Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to fund a wall along the border with Mexico, which Democrats have refused to consider.
The promise of a border wall was a mainstay of Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign. As a candidate, he said Mexico would pay for the barrier, but the Mexican government has refused.
If we require someone’s work without pay, that’s slavery. A worker should be paid daily.
Time to end what has turned into the pelosi Schubert shutdown. Trump is ready to compromise and you guts have always preached you compromise. You also often mocked the republicans a simply a party of no with no policy. What’s your proposal for our border?
Just curious if Mexico were to agree to pay for it you guys would have no problems? You’d be ok then? Like you wouldn’t yell Collusion with
Mexico and trump prob is offering to build towers there etc…It’s really the 5 billion measly dollars?
The TSA is so great, that recently it missed, because of incompetence, a passenger to fly from Detroit to Tokyo, with a fully loaded handgun, in his carry on luggage. How much safer is the flying public today, because of the TSA? ZERO!
If nothing else, they provide a visible presence of law enforcement, which is commonly believed to deter criminal activity. Speaking as a frequent traveler, I hope it is true.