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The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration told House lawmakers on Wednesday that the TSA may have to shut down operations at some airports if Congress does not end a Homeland Security funding fight that has entered its 40th day. Ha Nguyen McNeill, appearing at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, described a mounting strain on airport workers who have been going without pay and said lawmakers must ensure the situation “this never happens again.”
McNeill warned that the prolonged standoff could lead to difficult operational choices at the TSA, including which airports to keep open and which to shut down. “At this point, we have to look at all options on the table,” she said, adding that the agency would eventually have to make “very difficult choices” as staffing shortfalls increase.
She testified that some TSA-related airport workers were facing escalating hardship, including accumulating bills and eviction notices, and even selling blood and plasma to make ends meet while still expected to perform their duties to protect travelers. “This is a dire situation,” McNeill told lawmakers, describing the toll as the funding impasse continued.
McNeill also cited staffing impacts that she said are already measurable. She said multiple airports were experiencing greater than 40% callout rates, and she told the committee that more than 480 transportation security officers had quit during the shutdown. She further said TSA officers had seen a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began, and said this was “unacceptable and it will not be tolerated.”
House and Senate leaders have continued to spar over what a funding deal should include, with no clear path to agreement by Wednesday. Democrats said they want changes to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations and mass deportation efforts, particularly after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests. Republicans, including the latest Senate proposal described in the hearing reporting, offered to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security but excluded the enforcement and removal operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while providing money for other parts of ICE as well as Customs and Border Protection.
The reporting on Wednesday’s negotiations also described limits on what Republicans were willing to add. The proposal included some new restraints on immigration officers, including a requirement to use body cameras, but it did not include other Democratic demands, such as requiring agents to wear identification and refraining from conducting raids near schools, churches, or other sensitive locations.
In response, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said lawmakers needed to see “real changes,” adding, “We’ve been talking about ICE reforms from day one.” On the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson described the Republican offer as necessary and said, “They know this is crazy,” referring to what he called the Democrats’ posture, while conservative Republicans also criticized the proposal and raised concerns about providing full funding for immigration operations and about whether any future package would address Trump’s proof-of-citizenship voting bill.
The risk to air travel has also been described in practical terms by airport officials. Jim Szczesniak, aviation director for Houston’s airport system, told lawmakers that security lines at George Bush Intercontinental Airport had stretched to four hours or more because TSA staffing had dropped to only one-third to one-half of the usual number of checkpoint lines, leaving lines to twist and turn across multiple floors.
Lawmakers also discussed the possibility that immigration enforcement activity around airports could further complicate operations. They said Trump’s decision to send ICE agents to the airports could inflame tensions, and the hearing reporting referenced video footage of federal officers detaining a crying woman at San Francisco International Airport that drew outrage from local officials, though the incident was described as unrelated to Trump’s order to deploy immigration officers.
The impact of the funding fight was not limited to TSA. Victoria Barton, a FEMA external affairs official, told lawmakers the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund was “rapidly depleting.” Barton said FEMA could continue disaster response and recovery work as long as the fund retains money, and she reported that about 10,000 disaster workers continued being paid through the fund.
Associated Press writers Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Russ Bynum in Houston and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report.