US airports could face a new wave of long security lines as early as May, after the country’s Secretary of Homeland Security said on Tuesday that he will run out of money to pay 50,000 employees due to a partial government shutdown.
In late March, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use emergency funds to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who had gone without pay for about six weeks, causing disruptions at U.S. airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told “Fox and Friends” this Tuesday that the money will run out in early May.
“That money will run out if I continue on this path in the first week of May, because my payroll at DHS is just over $1.6 billion every two weeks,” Mullin said. He said that after the next payment, “there will be no more emergency fund, so the president will not be able to issue another decree for us to use the money, because there is no more money there.”
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TSA employees also went without pay for six weeks last year during a partial government shutdown.
Airlines for America Chief Executive Chris Sununu told Reuters on Tuesday that Congress needs to act quickly to get DHS funded. “You can’t ask these (TSA employees) to go through this a third time,” said Sununu, who leads the group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others.
In March, the weeks-long impasse in Congress caused security lines at some airports to exceed four hours, the longest in the TSA’s nearly 25-year history. More than 500 TSA employees have resigned since mid-February.
Senate Republicans will advance this week on a budget bill that would increase funding for DHS agencies for the next three years, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said, as Congress seeks to end the partial shutdown of DHS.
Democrats have been pushing for a series of new , which operate under the direction of DHS, before authorizing additional funds. They argued that ICE and Border Patrol should be subject to the same operating rules as U.S. police forces, including the requirement that agents obtain court warrants before entering private residences.
