TSA says nearly 10% of its officers called out sick Tuesday
Nearly 10% or 2,700 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers across the country called in sick Tuesday, according to TSA data first obtained by ABC News.
Atlanta and New Orleans saw the biggest impacts, the data said, with nearly 40% of officers calling out in each airport. For context, about 2% of TSA officers call out on any given day across the country, the agency said.
After the partial government shutdown began for the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees TSA) on Feb. 14, TSA employees received a paycheck initially as funding dried up. Those employees received their first $0 paycheck of this shutdown last week, and the rate of unscheduled absences and callouts spiked, according to TSA statistics obtained by ABC News.
Monday remains the day with the highest callout rate of the shutdown so far, with 10.22% of officers not showing up to work at airports nationwide.
ABC News has producers at several of the airports that have seen the longest wait times in the past.
Though most airports have not seen any significant issues Wednesday, the agency warns it could be forced to shut down smaller airports if Congress isn't able to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the shutdown continues.
"Over a hundred airports in the United States have around one or two lanes," Acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl told ABC. "And if we have a certain amount of callouts increase, we might have to quite literally collapse those lanes and close those lanes, which could temporarily halt operations at that airport,"
One of the four security checkpoints at Atlanta remained closed on Wednesday due to the staffing shortage. The airport also says it's expecting more than 350,000 people traveling through the airport from Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 22.
The data from Tuesday showed a high percentage of callouts at several large airports on:
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK): 30.1%
- Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT): 29.1%
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY): 35.8%
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL): 34.6%
- Houston Hobby Airport (HOU): 40.8%
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH): 28.3%
"The Democrats' reckless DHS shutdown is causing TSA officers to go without pay for the third time in nearly six months," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "Many TSA officers cannot pay their rent, buy food, or afford to put gas in their cars -- forcing them to call out sick from work. Now, Americans are facing HOURS long waits at airports across the country. Democrats must reopen DHS now."
On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Democrats to work together on a discharge petition that would fund all DHS agencies except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
