March 21, 2026

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) – As government funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security remains frozen ⁠in ⁠Congress, airports are running food drives and accepting ⁠donations for security screeners enduring their second stretch without pay in the last six months.

Transportation Security Administration officers scrimped and ​pinched pennies during last year’s 43-day government shutdown, and many of those 50,000 workers are still paying off debts as the current funding lapse for the TSA’s parent agency, the Department ‌of Homeland Security, has stretched to five weeks.

Those ‌workers are six days away from missing a second full paycheck, but are being pressured to show up as screening times at some airports stretch on for hours.

 

With government funding for the Department of Homeland Security frozen in Congress, TSA officers face their second period without pay in six months, forcing airports to organize food drives and donations to support these essential workers. Many TSA employees, already struggling to recover from a 43-day unpaid shutdown last fall, are now six days from missing another paycheck while being pressured to work amid lengthy screening lines, highlighting the ongoing strain and uncertainty facing the 50,000 security screeners nationwide.

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