LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — At the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, travelers were met with "Good Morning" greetings from Transportation Security Administration workers in line.
The workers are at the front line or airport security, but they still aren't receiving paychecks as disputes in Washington continue to withhold that money.
About 50,000 TSA officers expecting to receive another $0 paycheck this week. A dispute in Congress over funding the Department of Homeland Security has held up their salaries since mid-February. With monthly bills coming due, many of these federal employees, who screen passengers and luggage at airports across the U.S., are making difficult choices about how to make ends meet.
"I think it's ridiculous," said Cheryl McGruder, who was traveling at Louisville's airport Wednesday. "I think it's totally unfair to expect people to work with no pay."
High absentee rates at some major airports have produced long lines and frustrated passengers at understaffed security checkpoints.
The American Federation of Government Employees is the largest federal employee union.
Shannon McCallister is the executive vice president of the AFGE Local 616 union. She has worked for TSA since its inception, and she currently works at the Muhummad Ali International Airport.Â
Union leaders and federal officials say empty gas tanks, child care expenses and the threat of eviction keep more screeners from showing up the longer the shutdown continues. At last count, more than 455 had quit instead of weathering the ongoing uncertainty, according to DHS.
McCallister said many TSA workers at Muhammad Ali International Airport are still showing up for work. Only a few TSA employees there have quit, but they're struggling.
Democrats are insisting on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests. Their latest proposal would fund most of DHS except for the enforcement and removal operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that have been central to the debate. The plan would cover other aspects of ICE, as well as Customs and Border Protection.
While the offer added some new restraints on immigration officers, including the use of body cameras, it excluded other policies that Democrats have demanded.
Republican leaders said Democrats are putting the country at risk. Conservative Republicans rejected the Democrat's proposal, demanding full funding for immigration operations.
Some conservative Republicans remain skeptical of the promise from other GOP leaders that they would address Trump's proof-of-citizenship voting bill in a subsequent legislative package.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proposed a bill to accept the Democrats proposal to fund TSA, FEMA and all other parts of DHS except ICE and then later secure funding for ICE through reconciliation. The Republicans don't need Democratic votes to push a bill through reconciliation.
"It would've worked," Kennedy said during a live interview with Fox News. "We could've had TSA paid by the end of the week, but the President said no deal."
Kennedy said President Donald Trump shot down the plan, instructing Republicans not to make any deals with the Democrats. Kennedy acknowledged that going to reconciliation to fund DHS will take longer.
McCallister said she's frustrated and angry at the drawn-out shutdown.
"We've been shut down almost 50% of this fiscal year now," McCallister said Wednesday. "One of the gentlemen I work with ... he says he's down to the last $10 in his account."
McCallister said TSA workers will miss their second full paycheck if Democrats and Republicans don't come to common ground by the end of the week
"We all have jobs to do, we all have duties that we are expected to do, and it feels like, with this deadlock, that job, on their part, is not getting done," McCallister said. "There is nationwide that feeling of 'Guys, go to work and do your job, because that's what you're expecting us to do.'"
"It's simple. Fund TSA. Don't fund ICE," said Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Kentucky. "We could get this done today by passing a bill that funds TSA without funding ICE, but the Republican Majority won't bring it to the floor for a vote."
McGarvey points out the Republicans have the majority in the House and the Senate, and they determine what bills get introduced to the floor.Â
Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, said Senate Democrats are refusing to negotiate.
"The House has twice passed bipartisan legislation to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes funding for TSA, and will do so for a third time later this week," Rep. Guthrie said. "The same cannot be said for Senate Democrats, who continue to shift the goalpost and refuse to negotiate in good faith with their Republican counterparts to get a bill across the finish line."
"The fight is really over ICE and immigration enforcement," Massie said. "I think we should let the other hostages out of the room and fund everything except for the part that we disagree on."
Like Massie, Sen. Paul Rand, R-Kentucky, also seemed welcoming of the Democrats' proposal to fund everything except ICE.
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