The Patriot Post® · The Democrats' TSA Disaster
If you or a loved one has waited for hours in an airport TSA security line, thank the Democrats.
Since February 13, congressional Democrats have successfully shut down the Department of Homeland Security, under which the Transportation Security Administration operates, because they’re pitching a fit about deporting illegal aliens by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — which is fully funded already.
Make it make sense.
Because TSA agents are currently not being paid, many are calling out sick — 3,250 nationwide on Sunday alone. More than 400 have quit. In some of the nation’s largest airports, the callout rate is more than a third, leading to lines that last for hours and wrap around the airport. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin has a thread on X highlighting some of the long lines in recent days. News stories and social media are full of advice on how to beat the lines or at least make your flight.
As Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer put it, “America will see the matter crystal clear: which senators want to open up TSA, pay TSA workers, and end the chaos at our airports, and which senators are going to block TSA funding yet again.” He complained, “It is unacceptable for workers and travelers and entire airports to get taken hostage in political games.”
For some reason, I don’t think he thinks Democrats are to blame, even though they are the ones blocking DHS funding — even temporary funding — but every person in every line should be filing this away as a reason to vote out Democrats in November.
“Some airports have no shortage of security agents and are not suffering from long lines and wait times,” National Review’s John Fund writes. “These are the 20 airports that have jumped through the TSA’s high bureaucratic hoops and are allowed to use private contractors to conduct screening. Among them are the Kansas City and San Francisco International Airports. Security personnel at these airports are being paid normally and showing up for work as expected. It’s time to make this exception in airport security the rule.”
The Washington Post editorial board agrees: “There is no reason why nonunionized private contractors, following government-set standards, cannot perform every TSA function more efficiently and at a lower cost than federal workers.”
The likelihood of that is small, despite its wisdom. Or perhaps because of its wisdom.
Another solution is intriguing but unlikely: “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Elon Musk posted on his X platform.
President Donald Trump is implementing another measure:
On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all. But watch, no matter how great a job ICE does, the Lunatics leading the incompetent Dems will be highly critical of their work. THEY WILL DO A FANTASTIC JOB. The great Tom Homan is in charge!!! President DJT
That work will “concentrate on the airports where the longest waits are,” Homan said. “We’re going to do what we can to help TSA move those people through the line.” That means manning posts that don’t require much training so that TSA officers can perform screening and other “specialized jobs,” the border czar added. “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because we’re not trained in that.”
Deploying ICE is far less than ideal, but as usual, Democrats break out into hives when anyone uses the term “ICE,” and this was no different.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hyperventilated that ICE agents may “brutalize or in some instances, kill” people at airports. Senator Richard Blumenthal raged on X, “ICE agents at airports will only aggravate delays & lines — disrupting checks, interrogating travelers, dragging parents from children, detaining citizens, brutalizing families, shooting & even killing.”
I’d say these people are utterly unhinged, but this is a coldly calculated effort to blame Republicans and especially President Trump for Democrats shutting down TSA. Airline passengers are far more concerned with the time they’ll waste in line or the flights they’ll miss entirely than they are with phony Democrat warnings about threats from ICE.
Meanwhile, just a reminder that the U.S. Coast Guard also operates under DHS. Coasties aren’t getting paid right now, either, but they’re not calling out sick in droves.