Hundreds of airport screeners are calling out sick, while other workers are fretting about where their next paycheck will come from as the partial U.S. government shutdown enters its third week.
Currently, there is no resolution in sight, pushing the country closer to chaos as food stamps, HIV research, tax returns, and other priorities of the American public are being jeopardized.
The Transportation Security Administration has warned that travelers that they may have to wait longer at security lines due to lack of workers. Standard wait times are 30 minutes for standard checkpoints, and 10 minutes for TSA’s PreCheck.
“We have seen some call outs over the holiday period and they have increased, but are causing minimal impact given there are 51,739 employees supporting the screening process,” the TSA told CNBC in a statement.
“Wait times may be affected depending on the number of call outs, however to date, screening wait times remain well within TSA standards,” the statement continued.
In a letter to President Donald Trump, Air Line Pilots Association said, “The nation’s airspace system is a complex transportation network that involves government and industry partnerships to function properly, and the disruptions being caused by the shutdown are threatening the safe operations of this network.”
By: Maytinee Kramer
