STORY: Long lines snaked through major airports across the country on Wednesday as the TSA said more than 480 airport security officers have quit amid a standoff over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
MCCNEILL: "Paying these dedicated employees for the work they are performing should never be a point of debate."
Ha McNeill, the top official at the Transportation Security Administration, told a House committee that a partial government shutdown has forced 50,000 airport security officers to work without pay, raising serious concerns about safety risks, and taking a major toll on worker morale.
MCCNEILL: "Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off, lost their childcare, defaulted on loans, damaged their credit line and drained their retirement savings. Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public."
Democrats in Congress have held up funding for the Department of Homeland Security while demanding a change in rules governing its immigration enforcement operations, after agents in Minneapolis shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Republicans have rejected Democratic proposals to fund the TSA while negotiating over ICE reforms.
ICE and other law enforcement personnel at DHS, meanwhile, are getting paid during the partial shutdown, as airports across the country grapple with delays.
MCCNEILL: "Multiple major airports are experiencing days where 40 to 50% of their staff are calling out because they simply cannot afford to report to work."
On Tuesday, Homeland Security said more than 30% of TSA workers were absent at airports in New York, Baltimore, Houston, Atlanta and New Orleans.
Meanwhile, hundreds of U.S. immigration agents and Homeland Security Investigations officers have been sent to 14 U.S. airports to aid security screening, including at some airports where wait times have topped three or four hours.
