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Congressional
Republicans
Block
DHS
Funding
as
Shutdown
Enters
Fifth
Week
Marc
Kennedy
-
National
Politics
Tell Us
USA News
Network
WASHINGTON
- More
than
60,000
Transportation
Security
Administration
employees
are
facing a
second
missed
paycheck
with no
relief
in
sight,
as a
40-day
shutdown
of the
Department
of
Homeland
Security
drags
into
another
week
with no
deal on
the
horizon.
Congressional
Republicans
on
Wednesday
blocked
a
Democratic
funding
proposal
for the
agency,
extending
a
standoff
that has
left TSA
officers,
Coast
Guard
personnel,
and
cybersecurity
workers
without
pay
while
Congress
prepares
to leave
for a
two-week
recess.
The
shutdown
stems
from a
budget
impasse
between
House
Republicans
and the
White
House
over
border
enforcement
measures
attached
to the
annual
DHS
appropriations
bill.
Republican
leaders
have
refused
to
advance
a
short-term
stopgap
without
those
provisions,
rejecting
Democratic
calls
for a
clean
funding
bill
that
would
keep
agencies
operational
while
negotiations
continue.
The
human
toll is
becoming
increasingly
visible.
More
than 450
TSA
officers
have
resigned
since
mid-February,
according
to union
officials,
and
absenteeism
has
climbed
to 12
percent
at some
airports.
Travelers
at major
hubs
have
reported
record-length
security
lines as
understaffed
checkpoints
struggle
to keep
pace
with
spring
travel
demand.
"Our
officers
are
exhausted,
demoralized,
and
unpaid,"
said
Hydrick
Thomas,
president
of the
American
Federation
of
Government
Employees
Council
100.
"Every
day this
shutdown
continues,
our
national
security
weakens."
Democrats
have
accused
Republican
leadership
of
treating
homeland
security
as a
bargaining
chip.
Rep.
Bennie
Thompson
of
Mississippi,
the
ranking
Democrat
on the
House
Homeland
Security
Committee,
warned
that the
standoff
was
putting
lives at
risk.
"The men
and
women
who keep
our
airports
safe
should
not be
pawns in
a
partisan
negotiation,"
he said.
Republicans
counter
that the
White
House
has
refused
to
engage
seriously
on what
they
describe
as
baseline
border
protections.
House
Speaker
Mike
Johnson
pushed
back
against
proposals
to fund
the TSA
separately
from the
broader
DHS
bill.
"We're
not
going to
pass
piecemeal
spending
bills
that
ignore
the
crisis
at the
southern
border,"
Johnson
said.
"The
administration
needs to
come to
the
table."
The
White
House
has
urged
Congress
to pass
a clean
funding
measure,
warning
that
prolonged
disruption
could
compromise
aviation
safety
and set
back
critical
cybersecurity
operations.
President
Biden
has
pledged
to veto
any DHS
legislation
that
restricts
humanitarian
parole
or
limits
asylum
access -
the
central
sticking
point in
negotiations.
With
Congress
recessing
and no
talks
scheduled,
the
TSA's
workforce
could go
a third
pay
period
without
compensation.
Union
leaders
and
airport
industry
groups
are
warning
that if
the
stalemate
continues,
a
broader
breakdown
in
security
staffing
may be
unavoidable.
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