Congress must act now to fix ridiculously long lines at American airports
The wait times at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are ridiculous.
Some passengers are waiting two hours to get through security. Airlines are telling travelers to arrive at the airport three to four hours ahead of their flights, and even that doesn’t guarantee they will make it on time.
They’re getting inconvenienced. They’re getting delayed going home, to their jobs or to a vacation destination and having to figure out, in some cases, alternatives for lodging and transportation. This is costing Americans dearly not just in terms of money, but also in unnecessary wasted time.
The partial government shutdown that has kept the Department of Homeland Security unfunded is to blame. The Transportation Security Administration falls under DHS, and agents are calling out sick in droves every day. Who can blame them? They’re not getting paid. More than a third of agents at Hartsfield-Jackson have called in sick and it was more than half at Houston’s airport on a recent day.
This is a crisis. It deals a blow to Americans’ pocketbooks, the reputation of Hartsfield-Jackson — among the most efficient and essential airports in the world — and the U.S. economy.
It’s as if all this talk about affordability by politicians meant nothing. Wait times are getting longer, flights are getting more expensive and with the war on Iran, gas prices have soared to nearly $4 per gallon for unleaded and more than $5 per gallon for diesel fuel.
Ossoff, Warnock should their caucus for a deal
Now, roughly 1,000 Atlanta-based TSA workers face these surging prices without a paycheck. These workers, through no fault of their own, are facing eviction, foreclosure, repossessions, and missed tuition and day care payments. Many who are calling in sick are making whatever money they can in the gig economy, delivering food and driving for ride-hailing services.
This is not their fight, yet they’re the ones paying the cost. Congress should not force them to risk their homes, vehicles, credit rating and children’s education to keep the fight going.
Members of Congress must do something quickly for the sake of their constituents, for their faith in the ability of the government to serve the people and for the health of the economy.
This is Congress’ doing and Congress must fix this. There are no workarounds. Prior shutdowns have demonstrated that state and local governments willing to provide TSA workers needed relief cannot lawfully make workers whole.
Private business cannot intervene, and even the Trump administration has limited options. DHS has limited authority to partially pay some nonexcepted employees, but that doesn’t include 90% of its staff, including TSA agents.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social that he planned to move Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday to take over security at U.S. airports. That is not their role and he should not act without congressional approval, but it shows how high the stakes are.
Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff should be pushing their Democratic caucus into finding some agreement with the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate to fund TSA.
The sticking point is funding for immigration enforcement because of the aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol in cities, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans.
These agencies overstepped their bounds, killing American citizens, detaining hundreds of other American citizens on shaky grounds, and targeting immigrants for detention and deportation who had not committed violent crimes and, in some cases, were in the process of trying to gain legal status. The Trump administration vow of going after the “worst of the worst” has mostly snarled people who should never have been on that infamous list.
The Democrats already have one big victory with Trump’s recent firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who went on a quarter billion-dollar spending spree to promote herself in video ads about immigration enforcement. Moreover, immigration agents have ended their large-scale operations from those major cities.
Find a solution to get TSA agents paid
Americans don’t want government overreach. We do, however, want safety, efficiency, and good public service. Right now, Congress and President Trump are failing Americans.
Georgia’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation also has a responsibility to get to work and come up with a deal that makes airport lines quick again, putting aside performative partisan acts in a midterm election year.
Two of those House members, Republican Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, are vying for the GOP nomination to try to unseat Ossoff in November’s election. However, they have a day job that requires them to be responsible for acting on behalf of the American people. They are neglecting that right now.
One solution is to fund DHS agencies other than immigration enforcement, including the TSA and the Coast Guard. Then create a structure for funding the remainder to ensure that overzealous enforcement ends and crucial questions are answered — including why DHS is buying warehouses in Georgia communities such as Social Circle and Hall County that will put a major strain on local resources.
The TSA was created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the U.S. 25 years ago as a means to ensure safe air travel. This partial shutdown makes Americans unsafe. It’s also making them irritated, costing them time and money, and demoralizing federal officials who are struggling to pay the bills and need to be on the front lines of ensuring a bomb or unauthorized weapon does not get through security.
Trump and Congress are distracted by the midterms, but they must take a beat on the performative debates regarding the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act and focus on the crisis of the moment: the one leading to excessive and absurdly long lines at airports across America.
Urgency is essential, and members of Congress should not rest until they produce a solution. Frankly, they should feel the pain of TSA workers who are showing up without a pay check.
If they fall short, none of them deserve to stay in office.
This editorial was written by AJC Opinion Editor David Plazas on behalf of and in consultation with the AJC Editorial Board, which comprises President and Publisher Andrew Morse, Editor-in-Chief Leroy Chapman Jr., Head of Standards and Practices Samira Jafari, and Plazas.
