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In Indiana, a woman is delaying her dental surgery because she’s unsure about affording the copay. Meanwhile, a couple in Florida with young children are rapidly draining their savings, and a grandmother in Idaho is considering selling her car to cover rent expenses.
These individuals are just a few among the thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers who are facing another week without a paycheck. A political standoff in Congress over the Department of Homeland Security’s budget has resulted in suspended salaries for these employees since mid-February. As monthly expenses loom, these federal workers, responsible for airport security across the U.S., are being forced to make tough financial decisions.
The situation has led to high absenteeism at several major airports, causing lengthy lines and frustration among travelers at security checkpoints. Union leaders and federal authorities report that financial strains such as empty gas tanks, childcare costs, and the risk of eviction deter more screeners from attending work as the shutdown drags on. The Department of Homeland Security notes that over 455 employees have resigned, unable to cope with the prolonged uncertainty.
“Stop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if somebody’s gonna eat today,” Hydrick Thomas, president of the national council of the American Federation of Government Employees union representing TSA staff, expressed to the media on Tuesday.
Indiana TSA agent turns to food pantry for groceries
Before starting her shift at Indianapolis International Airport on Monday, TSA officer Taylor Desert made a stop at a food bank to gather essential items like meat, eggs, vegetables, and dairy.
“I never thought I would be in a position where, working for the federal government, I would need to go to a food bank to supplement my groceries,” she said as she loaded bags into her car.
Desert, who has been a TSA officer for seven years, said her last full paycheck came on Feb. 14, the day the shutdown started.
She had some savings to draw on despite a record 43-day shutdown last fall but put some personal plans on pause.
For example, Desert needs to get her wisdom teeth removed but says the TSA isn’t approving time off during the shutdown. She also worries about costs from the surgery not covered by insurance.
Wednesday was the 39th day of the DHS funding lapse. If it goes another 21 days, Desert said she would seek another job.
“I don’t want to have to spend my entire savings just to afford to keep living,” she said.
Florida TSA couple worry about their young children
Oksana Kelly, 38, and her husband, Deron, 37, both work as TSA agents at Orlando International Airport. They have two young children and don’t know how they will keep supporting their family without any income coming in.
Kelly said they’re dipping into savings for now, but it’s running dry. If the shutdown persists, they will ask relatives for help or take out a loan, which she worries would put them deeper in debt.
Her husband has worked as a DoorDash delivery driver in his spare time since the shutdown in October and November. He’s considered resigning from the TSA to put the couple on more stable financial footing.
“It’s very mentally exhausting,” said Kelly, who is an organizer for the labor union representing TSA workers across central and northern Florida. “How do we even decide between being able to feed our kids or come to work?”
Kelly said strangers might criticize the couple for “putting all eggs in one basket” since both choose to work for the TSA for the past decade.
“All we want is to pay our bills and get the pay we deserve,” she said.
A veteran officer in Idaho fears homelessness
Rebecca Wolf cries every day. She tries to hide it from her grandchildren, ages 11 and 6.
“They don’t understand why grandma’s crying,” Wolf said. “I try not to cry in front of them, but sometimes it’s just too much.”
The 53-year-old TSA officer and union leader in Boise, Idaho, joined the agency soon after its creation in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She was homeless at the time but turned her situation around with steady work and the benefits of federal employment.
Now, Wolf can’t help but dwell on where she was 24 years ago. “I don’t want to be in that position again,” she said.
Her Feb. 28 paycheck amounted to $13.53, sending her “into a spiral right away.”
With no savings to fall back on, she is preparing to sell her car to cover her rent due in a week. She calls nonprofits daily seeking rental assistance, but hasn’t had any luck.
Supporting six family members — four children and two grandchildren — has always been challenging, but the repeated shutdowns have made it nearly unsustainable.
Wolf, who serves as president of AFGE TSA Local 1127, is hesitant to walk away from both the job that turned her life around and her role advocating for fellow officers.
“I worked hard to get to where I am now, and the thought I might lose it all scares me,” she said, her voice breaking as she tried to stifle the sound of weeping.
Massachusetts agent digs into savings to get by
Mike Gayzagian, a TSA officer at Boston’s Logan International Airport, says long stretches without pay have become enough of a “new normal” that he’s prepared for them.
The 56-year-old says he has a financial cushion of about six months to tap but that his situation is “an exception to the rule.”
“The majority live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have those kinds of reserves available,” said Gayzagian, who is president of his local TSA union chapter.
It shouldn’t be this way for federal workers, he said.
“The financial situation adds an additional burden to what is already a stressful job,” Gayzagian said. “I didn’t go into public service to make a lot of money. I went into public service because it has a certain stability and reliability and predictability that other jobs don’t have.”
A father in Utah leaves TSA
Robert Echeverria quit his job as a TSA agent at Utah’s Salt Lake City International Airport about two weeks into the current shutdown.
The 45-year-old, who has a wife and three children, counted five government shutdowns in the nine years he worked for the agency. The toughest was last year’s record shutdown that ended in mid-November around the start of the holiday season.
Echeverria said his family skipped Christmas and took months to recover financially. He began looking for a new job in February when it became clear Congress was headed for another budget battle.
“Emotionally I was already distraught,” Echeverria said last week. “We were barely recovering from the last shutdown.”
He now works for the department that manages the airports in Utah’s capital. Leaving federal service “was a hard decision for me,” Echeverria said.
“I really believed in the mission of the TSA,” he said. “We took an oath, and it was a way for me to give back to the country that gave me so much.”
He’s still based at Salt Lake City International, where his 20-year-old daughter works as a TSA agent, and says that seeing his former colleagues struggling is difficult.
“They all feel betrayed by their government because they’re showing up to work,” Echeverria said. “They’re there, but they feel that the government doesn’t care for them,” he said.
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Marcelo reported from New York, Lamy reported from Indianapolis and Yamat reported from Las Vegas.