TSA Lines Are About To Get A Lot Worse

Agents will miss their first full paycheck this week, and union officials say they expect resignations to start increasing if there's no resolution.

Transportation Security Administration officers are feeling the squeeze of the latest government shutdown, and it could translate into longer lines at airports across the country once agents start missing paychecks this coming Friday.

“Two things will happen,” predicted Mike Gayzagian, a TSA worker and head of his local union. “People will start calling out because they have to look for other jobs, and the people who have other [offers] will take them and leave the agency.”

The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t been funded for 25 days as Democrats demand some accountability for the president’s unpopular immigration crackdown. Some DHS personnel, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, continue to be paid due to the One Big Beautiful Bill, but TSA officers are among those who have to work without paychecks until there’s a deal. So far, the White House and Republicans have not relented.

Travelers are already running into unusually long lines at some major airports, such as Houston and Atlanta, but union officials said the staffing woes are likely to become more widespread as the shutdown drags on. For the last pay period, workers received only a partial paycheck that covered the last week of work before the lapse occurred.

Gayzagian, who’s president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2617, said he’s been seeing around two resignations a day among the roughly 2,500 officers in New England, a number he expects to climb.