TSA officers are quitting as a funding standoff forces them to staff airports without pay

TSA Workers Face Financial Crisis as Third Government Shutdown Extends

Transportation Security Administration agents across the country are grappling with severe financial hardships as the current government shutdown enters its 35th day. Employees report facing eviction notices, vehicle repossessions, overdrawn bank accounts, and empty refrigerators—consequences of being forced to work without pay during what has become the third shutdown affecting TSA in less than six months.

The impact extends beyond the workers themselves, as air travelers encounter increasingly unpredictable security wait times. Some airports report delays stretching into multiple hours, with passengers in Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans missing flights due to extraordinary lines at security checkpoints.

“It’s just exhausting. Every day it just feels like this weight gets heavier and heavier on us,” said Cameron Cochems, a TSA union leader in Boise, Idaho, who has worked as an agent for more than four years.

The current shutdown, which affects only the Department of Homeland Security, represents just the latest chapter in what has become a recurring nightmare for TSA employees. In the past 170 days, airport screeners have worked without pay for nearly half that time—43 days during last fall’s record-breaking government shutdown, four days during a brief funding lapse earlier this year, and now the ongoing crisis.

The Department of Homeland Security reports that at least 376 TSA officers have resigned since the Valentine’s Day shutdown began, exacerbating turnover at an agency already plagued by high attrition and historically low employee morale.

Absentee rates have climbed dramatically nationwide, with more than half of scheduled staff missing work Sunday at one Houston airport. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reported 38% of officers absent Wednesday and 32% on Thursday. Nationwide, about 10% of TSA agents missed work Thursday, though some locations saw rates two to three times higher.

“I’ve heard from officers who cannot afford copayments for cancer treatments or office visits for their sick children,” said Aaron Barker, a local TSA union leader in Atlanta, during a news conference this week.

The financial strain is particularly severe given TSA’s compensation structure. According to the agency’s careers website, starting pay for agents is approximately $34,500, with average salaries ranging from $46,000 to $55,000. These modest wages have contributed to long-standing morale issues identified in a 2024 Government Accountability Office report, which found TSA’s workforce struggles with some of the lowest satisfaction ratings in federal service.

For Cochems, the recent shutdowns have undermined the stability that initially attracted him to government employment. Despite working a seasonal side job screening college sports teams at airports, he’s struggling to cover basic expenses—a situation worsened when his wife unexpectedly lost her job two weeks ago.

“Every day I come to the airport and I look at the food drive, see what things I can get for my family,” he said, referring to donation initiatives many airports have established to assist unpaid TSA workers.

Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl warned in a Fox News interview that the latest shutdown could have lasting consequences for staffing and recruitment. “We saw an uptick of 25% attrition after the last shutdown, and so this is going to continue and worsen—not get better, get worse—if we don’t get a resumption of normal operations,” he said. Former TSA Administrator John Pistole previously stated that approximately 1,100 officers resigned during last year’s shutdown.

The resolution remains unclear. Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be away from Washington for the first two weeks of April. Democrats have linked DHS funding to new restrictions on federal immigration operations following recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, TSA has reportedly exhausted its options for keeping checkpoints adequately staffed, including deploying emergency manpower. The staffing shortages have forced some airports to close security lanes, creating dramatic fluctuations in wait times. At Atlanta’s main airport on Friday, wait times swung from two hours in the morning to less than five minutes by early afternoon, then back to 90 minutes later in the day.

The House Committee on Homeland Security has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to review the partial shutdown’s impact on TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other DHS agencies.