{"id":4246,"date":"2026-03-25T03:01:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/tsa-workers-demand-to-be-paid-as-partial-government-shutdown-drags-on-spectrum-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T03:01:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:01:40","slug":"tsa-workers-demand-to-be-paid-as-partial-government-shutdown-drags-on-spectrum-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/03\/25\/tsa-workers-demand-to-be-paid-as-partial-government-shutdown-drags-on-spectrum-news\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA workers demand to be paid as partial government shutdown drags on – Spectrum News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More<\/a>
Continue in Browser<\/a>
Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.
Please enter a valid zipcode.
Save
WASHINGTON \u2014 On the 39th<\/sup> day of a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown, a union representing Transportation Security Administration officers is demanding they be paid. About 47,000 TSA agents are considered essential and must continue screening passengers, baggage and cargo for deferred pay as lawmakers debate immigration enforcement reforms and funding for the agency. 
\u201cRight now, these workers need a vote, a signature and a paycheck,\u201d American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said at an online news conference where he was joined by several TSA agents who have been working without their salaries since Feb. 14. \u201cEnd the shenanigans today. Finish the deal.\u201d
Senators on Tuesday were scrambling to clinch an emerging proposal to end the shutdown by funding much of the Homeland Security Department, including TSA airport workers, but excluding ICE operations that are at the core of the dispute.
\u201cWe\u2019re ready to move, and it\u2019s really going to be incumbent upon [Democrats],\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon. \u201cIf DHS is going to open up and we\u2019re going to have TSA agents paid again before the weekend, the ball is in the Democrats\u2019 court.\u201d
Democrats are refusing to fund the whole department without restraints on Trump\u2019s immigration and deportation agenda after agents killed two citizens in Minneapolis in January.
A potential breakthrough in negotiations came late Monday, after a group of Republican senators met with Trump at the White House. <\/b>Under the proposal, ICE\u2019s Homeland Security Investigations would be funded as well as Customs and Border Protection. But that would come with guardrails \u2014 keeping officers from those divisions in their traditional roles, rather than deploying them in urban immigration roundups.
Trump is reportedly on board with the Republican effort to fund DHS without providing money for ICE\u2019s enforcement and removal efforts.The proposal involves a reconciliation bill for ICE funding and portions of the SAVE America Act requiring voter ID, so it can pass without needing Democrats\u2019 votes.
\u201cTrump threw a temper tantrum yesterday and demanded Republicans\u2019 voter suppression bill be part of any deal to pay TSA workers,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cThis was an outrageous demand from the start and it wasted a day of negotiations.\u201d
The pressure is on Senate lawmakers as U.S. airports are snarled by long security lines, with travelers being told to arrive hours before their flights in Houston, Atlanta and Baltimore Washington International. Almost 11% of TSA workers missed work on Monday, and at least 458 have quit since the shutdown began, the DHS reported Tuesday.
\u201cMorale is low. Stress is high. The uncertainty is taking a toll not just financially but mentally and emotionally,\u201d AFGE Local 0333 president LaShanda Palmer said at the union’s news conference Tuesday. She said many TSA agents are having to choose between paying for gas and food or going to work.
\u201cWe are asking for one simple thing: Respect our work force, show some compassion and resolve this shutdown so the people who keep this country running are no longer forced to work without pay.\u201d
Several TSA workers who are continuing to show up for work reported taking second jobs, donating plasma, acquiring loans and fearing missed home, auto and health insurance payments.
\u201cIt\u2019s not that these employees and their families are hungry,\u201d AFGE second vice president for Council 100 Mac Johnson said at his union\u2019s news conference. \u201cThey\u2019re beginning to literally starve because they do not have the financial means to provide food for their families.\u201d
The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.<\/i><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More Continue in Browser Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.Please enter a valid zipcode.SaveWASHINGTON \u2014 On the 39th day of a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown, a union representing Transportation Security Administration officers is demanding they be paid. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}