Tag: Transportation Security Administration

Washington (CNN)Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports, according to two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials. TSA spokesman Michael Bilello said the agency is "closely monitoring the situation" and that "screening wait times remain well within TSA standards," although that could change if the number of call outs increases. At New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, as many as 170 TSA employees have called out each day this week, Thomas tells CNN. Call outs have increased by 200%-300% at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where typically 25 to 30 TSA employees call out from an average shift according to a local TSA official familiar with the situation. "This problem of call outs is really going to explode over the next week or two when employees miss their first paycheck," a union official at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport told CNN. Two of the sources, who are federal officials, described the sick outs as protests of the paycheck delay. However, "Wait times may be affected depending on the number of call outs," Bilello said. And TSA is bracing for more call outs next week, according to veteran field officials. That means TSA officials at airports around the country -- cognizant that long security lines frustrate passengers -- could have tough decisions to make, including whether to let passengers board flights with less scrutiny. Known as positive passenger bag match, it presumes that if a passenger checks in and boards the flight, their checked luggage is safe, but some security experts are doubtful it is effective.

Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced late Friday night that it would freeze a pay raise for Vice President Mike Pence, members of the cabinet and other high-ranking political appointees in light of the partial government shutdown. The high-level officials were positioned to receive a raise of about $10,000 a year — which was to go into effect on Saturday — as 800,000 federal employees were entering their third week without pay. But on Friday night, the Office of Personnel Management announced that “it would be prudent for agencies to continue to pay these senior political officials at the frozen rate until appropriations legislation is enacted that would clarify the status of the freeze.” The decision came during an unexpected optics issue for the Trump administration: While correctional officers, Transportation Security Administration agents and other federal employees work without pay during the government shutdown, Mr. Pence’s annual salary would have jumped to $243,500 from $230,700. The administration appeared to be aware of the perception problem and was trying to avoid it. Democratic lawmakers, who are at an impasse with Mr. Trump over his vow to not reopen the government without funding for a wall along the southwest border, earlier on Friday put pressure on the Trump administration, criticizing the potential raises. Representative David E. Price of North Carolina described increasing the salaries of high-ranking officials during a shutdown as “astounding and the height of hypocrisy.” Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York said that the bill passed by the House on Thursday to reopen the government would also block what she described as “lavish raises.” That bill, however, is viewed as a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled Senate. The Government Accountability Office had also received questions about whether the raises could move forward, but responded that the issue was, so far, an unresolved legal question, according to a person familiar with the conversation. The salary increases would have come as the leaders of some of the unions representing federal workers criticized Mr. Trump for what they say is a lack of empathy for the financial problems facing federal employees who have not been paid during the shutdown. Under the provision, high-ranking officials would have their pay rates frozen, even though the federal schedule of pay raises would increase. Last March, Republicans tried to end the freeze, but Democrats succeeded in their efforts to keep it.

Some federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration agents, continue to work despite the government shutdown. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make rent.” She added: “I’m basically living on credit now.” Charles Aitken, who works in inventory management for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is continuing to report to work in Virginia. Trash at the Ellipse, near the White House, piled up during the shutdown. “It’s a real challenge for us,” said Cari Thomas, a retired rear admiral and the chief executive officer of a nonprofit that is the official relief society of the Coast Guard. “It’s about $150 million each pay period to pay the active duty and civilian employees of the Coast Guard, and our nonprofit does not have $150 million, as you can imagine.” She said she had been on the phone on Friday morning with a senior member of the Coast Guard, who is not eligible for the aid and was in tears, worrying about whether he would be able to pay his rent on Jan. 5. Anxieties are highest for the 800,000 federal workers furloughed or forced to work without pay. But the fear is spreading far beyond the federal work force, hitting government contractors, local governments forced to cover for furloughed sanitation and maintenance workers and organizations that feed the poor, who are dealing with a possible interruption to sources of funding and provisions. The Department of Agriculture’s emergency food assistance program, which sends surplus agricultural products to food banks, and the commodity supplemental food program, which provides food to low-income seniors, are both at risk, according to Catherine Drennan, the director of communications and public affairs at the Greater Boston Food Bank. The shutdown is already causing major problems at national parks despite efforts by states and private groups to offset the loss of federal funding. A pileup of trash and dirty toilets during the shutdown has drawn intense concern at Joshua Tree National Park in California.