SAVE Act and TSA funding are connected. Congress should approve both.
I wouldn’t call myself a “nervous” traveler, but I do not like to take unnecessary risks.
To catch a late morning flight this past Sunday, I arrived at 6:45 a.m. thinking four hours would surely be enough time to get through security at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I was wrong.
As widely documented in the news and on social media, hundreds — if not thousands — of people were already snaking through security lines in and around baggage claim.
Families with young children, business travelers, elderly passengers — all of us standing shoulder to shoulder, watching the minutes tick by, and hoping time would stand still while we inched through the line.
As someone who travels frequently for work, I have given the federal government virtually every biomarker I have in order to expedite the security process: fingerprints, contact information, eye scans, background checks. I essentially traded the ability to go “off the grid” for the promise of smooth travel.
However, “smooth travel” already feels like a distant memory. Biomarkers and sheer luck got me through security in about two hours, while many fellow travelers missed earlier flights despite arriving four or more hours before departure.
Monday was even worse. A friend’s daughter missed her return flight to school and is now planning to arrive eight hours before her rescheduled flight. Eight hours. Let that sink in. The Atlanta airport’s website has simply given up on providing accurate Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wait time estimates, which tells you just about everything you need to know about the state of things.
Partial shutdown hurts ordinary people and the economy
So, what on earth is going on?
The Department of Homeland Security has been in a partial shutdown since Jan. 31, and TSA has borne the brunt of it.
Nearly 50,000 TSA officers have missed multiple paychecks, resulting in hundreds of resignations and absenteeism rates five times higher than normal.
These are not abstract statistics — they are the reason your security line is stretching out the door and into the parking deck.
From Los Angeles to New York, Boston to Atlanta, airports across the country are overwhelmed.
Department of Homeland Security estimates the shutdown has already cost the national economy approximately $2.5 billion, a number that will keep climbing every single day that TSA remains underfunded.
Businesses are losing productivity. Families are missing reunions. Students are missing class. The ripple effects of this mess extend far beyond the airport terminal.
Election integrity affects Ga. and the whole country
Why is this happening?
No surprise here: Washington, D.C. is politically gridlocked, and partisan brinkmanship has paralyzed critical functions of our federal government, including the basic ability for Americans to move freely and securely through their own country.
The fix has two parts and must happen in order: Pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, then pass full funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It really is that straightforward.
In Georgia over the past decade, both parties have invested considerable energy arguing in the safety and security of elections. In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams refused to concede the governor’s race, claiming the process was rigged against voters.
During the 2020 election, a number of unresolved questions left many Republicans determined to make sure history does not repeat itself. While the two parties see these issues very differently, they share a common premise: The integrity of American elections should be beyond reproach.
Given that shared premise, it is almost incomprehensible that political obstruction surrounding the SAVE Act has ground air travel to a halt across the country. The connection may not be obvious to the average traveler fuming in a two-hour security line, but it is direct and it is consequential.
The SAVE Act, which passed the House in February, requires voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections — an American passport, a birth certificate paired with a photo ID, or a naturalization certificate. Common sense stuff.
According to a recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll published by the White House, 91% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, and 50% of Democrats support the legislation. Overall, 85% of Americans agree that only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections. And before anyone cries foul over the source, those numbers are consistent with at least three other well-known, independent polls.
Lawmakers should prevent fraud before it happens
Opponents argue that incidents of noncitizen voting are rare — and sure, that may be true today. But that is simply the wrong standard. We do not wait for a disease outbreak before vaccinating children. We do not wait until after we rear-end someone before getting our brakes checked.
The question is not whether mass fraud is happening right now; the question is whether we have the guardrails in place to make sure it never does. Proactive governance is not paranoia. It is just good sense.
Some critics also contend that requiring proof of citizenship would disenfranchise elderly voters, rural communities, and women whose names changed through marriage. These concerns deserve a fair hearing, and the bill does provide that states may accept sworn affidavits from those genuinely unable to produce documents, subject to follow-up verification. Challenges in implementation are inevitable, but they are an argument for careful execution — not for walking away from election integrity altogether.
Both the SAVE Act and the DHS funding bill will return to the Senate floor, and we need to demand that our senators support both. Neither Georgia Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff nor Sen. Raphael Warnock has stepped up to protect the integrity of our elections — and that failure is directly tied to the chaos unfolding at airports across the country.
So, whose fault is all of this? Your answer probably depends on your politics. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that it is not the fault of the hardworking men and women of TSA.
Every officer I encountered in Atlanta was courteous, patient, and — somehow — even cheerful, despite missing multiple paychecks. They deserve better. Travelers deserve better. Do them all a favor and email your senators today: Pass the SAVE Act and fund TSA. It is long past time to do the right thing.
Meagan Hanson is a conservative, attorney, political strategist and former Georgia state Representative from the Atlanta area. She is an AJC contributor.
