1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

TSA officers at Houston Hobby waited nearly four hours in security lines on March 8. New Orleans’ lines spilled into the parking garage. The DHS shutdown has now run more than three weeks, and TSA agents are working their third unpaid stretch in six months. Democrats proposed a bill that would have paid TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and CISA while ICE negotiations continued. Republicans blocked it. ICE and CBP are already receiving full paychecks through reconciliation funding. The shutdown is not hitting everyone equally. It is hitting the people who screen bags and respond to hurricanes while leaving deportation operations fully funded. I’m asking you to go on the record and demand a standalone floor vote on TSA and FEMA funding this week. These agencies have nothing to do with the ICE argument. Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told Congress her agency saw a 25% spike in attrition during last fall’s shutdown and cannot absorb another with the World Cup approaching. Every week this continues, more screeners quit and take months of training with them. If your colleagues refuse a clean vote to pay these workers, make them say so publicly. Americans deserve to know who chose to keep airport security unpaid while writing a blank check for ICE.