By The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
As the lines at airport security get worse, frustrated travelers should know who’s to blame: Sen. Chuck Schumer. Democrats have refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, producing a shutdown that now has dragged on for a month. TSA airport screeners are calling out of work, since they aren’t getting paid.
The Transportation Security Administration’s nationwide absence rate on March 6 was 8%, according to agency figures obtained last week by CBS, but in some places it has been much higher. “At Houston’s Hobby Airport,” the network reported, “53% of officers called out on March 8, with 47% calling out the following day.” The wait hit three hours.
Other TSA workers are outright quitting, and it’s hard to blame them. They received a partial paycheck last month. Then on payday last week they got nothing. This financial hardship arrives only months after last fall’s shutdown, when Mr. Schumer didn’t reopen the government for a record 43 days. Do Democrats think TSA staff should simply put up with this treatment?
Over the long term, one answer is to let TSA regulate security checkpoints, while having more airports spin off the actual operation to private entities. That could free workers, and travelers, from Congress’s political games. The same goes, by the way, for air-traffic controllers, who also were told to work without pay during last year’s shutdown.
That said, the only solution for today’s crazy TSA lines is for Mr. Schumer to fund the Department of Homeland Security. If he won’t, maybe he ought to go down to JFK Airport, put on a uniform, and help. While he’s there, he can offer apologies to the public in person.
WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD: "As the lines at airport security get worse, frustrated travelers should know who’s to blame: Sen. Chuck Schumer."https://t.co/yjaP0mwQAH
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 16, 2026