As travel chaos escalates and senators scramble to finalize a proposal to resolve the Homeland Security shutdown, the House is set to convene a hearing at 10 a.m. ET to delve into the consequences of the funding gap.
Senators are working towards an agreement that would secure funding for significant parts of the department, notably those supporting Transportation Security Administration employees currently working without pay. However, the proposal notably excludes immigration operations, which have been at the heart of the shutdown dispute.
During the hearing, Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill is set to reveal that several airports are grappling with callout rates exceeding 40%, based on her prepared testimony. She is anticipated to convey to lawmakers the severe personal impact the shutdown has had on TSA employees, many of whom are struggling to meet basic needs like housing and food.
With U.S. airports congested and plagued by lengthy lines due to TSA understaffing, President Donald Trump has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to assist with airport security, a move that has raised concerns among some lawmakers. According to the Department of Homeland Security, at least 458 TSA officers have resigned as a result of the ongoing situation.
Here are the latest updates:
Thousands of FEMA employees are paid, despite official’s remarks
Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi, asked each agency official if their employees were being paid. Each said “No,” but when Guest reached FEMA external affairs official Victoria Barton, she paused before saying, “No.”
That’s incorrect: About 10,000 members of FEMA’s disaster workforce are paid through the agency’s disaster relief fund, which continues to operate until it runs out of money. That’s nearly half the total FEMA workforce.
Committee Chair Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Republican from New York, quickly followed up, asking Barton to confirm which employees are paid “to make sure you have the right thing on the record.”
Barton clarified that the unpaid employees are the ones not being paid out of the disaster relief fund.
Houston airport lines see some relief from fewer passengers
Security check-in lines at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had shortened noticeably Wednesday morning.
The airport’s website estimated wait times at 90 minutes to two hours to reach its two open checkpoints. An Associated Press reporter traveling through Houston got through the line in just 30 minutes after joining the queue at 9:15 a.m. CDT.
Houston’s chief airport executive noted Tuesday that some passengers had been waiting four hours or longer in lines that meandered across multiple floors.
The shorter wait times are likely temporary.
“Today’s swing in wait times reflects the traditionally lower passenger volumes expected on Wednesdays,” said an update on the airport’s website.
FEMA disaster funding running low, official says
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is “rapidly depleting,” Barton, a FEMA external affairs official, warned lawmakers.
FEMA will be able to continue its disaster response and recovery work as long as the relief fund has money, and about 10,000 of its disaster workers continue to be paid through that fund.
However, the fund has about $3.6 billion left, Barton said. The DHS appropriations bill would have replenished the fund with about $26 billion.
Barton also cautioned that FEMA’s preparedness and security grant work is paused months before the FIFA World Cup and the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
“This is especially concerning as the nation faces heightened national security concerns,” she said.
TSA official warns shutdown could weaken security
“We are really concerned about our security posture and what the long-term impacts of the shutdown is going to have on the workforce and our ability to carry out the mission,” McNeill said.
Shutdown could impact future World Cup travel, lawmakers and TSA chief warn
The 2026 World Cup was in the spotlight during Wednesday’s House committee hearing. The U.S., Canada and Mexico will be co-hosting the tournament, which kicks off in June.
Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino, a Republican from New York and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, pointed to the surge in international fans expected to travel through the nation’s airports and said disruptions spanning from the ongoing shutdown “present a dire situation” ahead of the tournament.
McNeill, meanwhile, noted that the shutdown also has significantly decreased the number of interested new hire candidates. For those who are hired, four to six months of training is required, she said — meaning they would not be able to work at checkpoints “until well after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”
FEMA official who said he ‘teleported’ absent from hearing
Gregg Phillips is not representing the Federal Emergency Management Agency at today’s hearing despite being scheduled to do so.
News reports last week resurfaced past remarks that Phillips, FEMA’s associate administrator of the office of response and recovery, had made promoting election conspiracy theories and claiming that he once teleported to a Waffle House restaurant.
Victoria Barton, an external affairs official, is representing FEMA instead. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Phillips’ absence.
Over 480 TSA officers have now quit as the shutdown persists, official says
During the House Committee on Homeland Security hearing, McNeill said that more than 480 transportation security officers have now quit amid the ongoing shutdown.
McNeill reiterated the growing financial strain facing that workforce, including missed bill payments, eviction notices and lost child care.
“Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public,” she said.
Nguyen McNeill added that callout rates have reached 40% to 50% at multiple major airports recently, compared with an average of 4% before the shutdown, because staff “simply cannot afford to report to work.”
TSA chief says assaults against officers on the rise
In addition to missed pay, TSA officers working at the nation’s airports have experienced a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the Homeland Security shutdown began in mid-February.
Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting TSA administrator, made the disclosure during Wednesday’s congressional hearing.
“This is unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated,” said McNeill, who called for patience and understanding from the public as they experience longer screening times at many airports.
“We are pursuing all legal avenues to prosecute these incidents,” she told lawmakers.
Houston airport chief worries lines may ‘only get worse’
The top executive overseeing Houston airports says security lines that have travelers waiting four hours or more could get even longer if the political impasse that’s keeping TSA agents without pay isn’t resolved soon.
The lines that twist and turn across multiple floors at George Bush Intercontinental Airport stem from TSA being able to staff only one-third to one-half the usual number of checkpoint lines during the busy spring travel season, said Jim Szczesniak, aviation director for Houston’s airport system.
“I want you to know we see it,” Szczesniak said in an online video Tuesday. “We see the families arriving early and waiting for hours. We see missed flights. We see missed moments: weddings, vacation, time with loved ones.”
Szczesniak said hundreds of airport employees “from finance to IT to maintenance” have been temporarily reassigned to help manage lines.
But he warned: “This is not sustainable.”
“We worry conditions will only get worse at airports across the U.S. until Congress ends this shutdown,” Szczesniak said.
TSA officers share how they’re scraping by without pay
A woman in Indiana who put off dental surgery because she doesn’t know if she can afford the copay. A Florida couple with young children who are depleting their savings. A grandmother in Idaho who plans to sell her car to pay the rent.
They are among the tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration officers set 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.
“Stop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if somebody’s gonna eat today,” Hydrick Thomas, president of the national American Federation of Government Employees union council that represents TSA employees, told reporters Tuesday.
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‘TSA employees are dedicated public servants’
McNeill is also expected to tell lawmakers of the personal toll the shutdown has had on TSA workers. She described in her prepared remarks how some are having trouble making ends meet, with some having received eviction notices. She says some workers also have been charged late fees and even defaulted on loans.
“TSA employees are dedicated public servants that want to continue to keep the traveling public safe and secure, but they are running out of options to keep a roof over their head and put food on the table,” McNeill said.
TSA official to stress toll of shutdown on airport workers
Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, says daily callout rates from officers scheduled to report for duty have increased from 4% before the Homeland Security shutdown to 11% nationwide, with multiple airports experiencing greater than 40% callout rates.
Meanwhile, the agency is grappling with a spring break travel surge.
McNeill made the comments in prepared remarks she will give to the House Committee on Homeland Security. She is testifying Wednesday along with other heads of agencies within the Homeland Security Department about the shutdown’s impact.
Wait times, she said, have increased to more than four hours at some airports, increasing major security risks and missed flights for passengers.
