TSA Workers Are Donating Plasma to Survive. Congress Can't Be Bothered.

Anthony Riley is 58 years old. He screens bags at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. He has shown up to work every day for the past five weeks without a paycheck, and now he's facing eviction.

"This is the fourth week I'm working without pay and it's killing me," he told NBC News.

He is one of roughly 50,000 TSA officers caught in the gears of Washington's latest dysfunction — a partial government shutdown that has stretched into its fifth week with no end in sight, right as a record-breaking spring break travel season collides with an agency running on fumes.

What Happened

The Department of Homeland Security ran out of funding at 12:01 a.m. on February 14, 2026, after Congress failed to reach a deal on DHS spending. It was the second shutdown of the year and the third to hit DHS in recent months, following the record-shattering 43-day shutdown in the fall of 2025 — the longest in American history.

The immediate trigger: a political standoff over immigration enforcement, born from bloodshed in Minneapolis.

In December 2025, the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge, deploying roughly 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area in what DHS called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever conducted. On January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renée Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, in her car. Less than three weeks later, on January 24, Border Patrol officers killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and Army VA hospital employee, during a protest. Bystander video reviewed by Reuters, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and the AP appeared to contradict the government's claim that Pretti had brandished a weapon — showing an officer removing his firearm roughly one second before he was shot.

Nationwide protests erupted. Senate Democrats drew a line: no DHS funding without immigration enforcement reforms — body cameras for ICE agents, tighter warrant requirements, restrictions on roving patrols, stronger use-of-force policies. Republicans rejected most conditions. Congress managed to fund every other agency through the fiscal year but gave DHS only until February 13. When that deadline passed, the lights went out.

Since then, the Senate has voted twice to end the shutdown — and failed both times to reach the 60-vote threshold. Only one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, crossed party lines. On March 13, roughly 50,000 TSA officers missed a full paycheck for the first time during this shutdown. More than 300 officers have resigned since February 14, and unscheduled absences have more than doubled at many major airports.

President Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem last week and named Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement, effective March 31.

Why It Matters

Here's the thing that should make your blood boil: every time you buy a plane ticket, you pay a $5.60 September 11 aviation security fee. Airlines are still collecting it. The money is still flowing into government accounts. The workers that fee is supposed to fund are donating plasma and sleeping in cars.

The average TSA officer earns about $35,000 a year. Many are still paying off debt from the fall 2025 shutdown. They are classified as "essential," which means they are legally required to keep showing up — or be fired. It's a cruel paradox: too important to let go, too unimportant to pay.

"For the third time in five months, TSA screeners are being asked to perform their jobs without pay because Washington can't find a way to do its job." — Todd Hauptli, President, American Association of Airport Executives (Government Executive)

The consequences are now impossible to ignore. In early March, as spring break kicked off, security lines at major airports stretched to two and three hours or more. Houston's William P. Hobby Airport advised travelers to arrive four to five hours before their flights. Atlanta, New Orleans, Charlotte, Austin — all reported similar chaos. TSA expects to screen approximately 2.8 million passengers per day through March and April, an all-time record.

Airports have resorted to launching donation drives and food pantries for their own security workers. Denver International is collecting gift cards. MGM Resorts donated food at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas. Think about that: multi-billion-dollar corporations are feeding federal employees because the federal government won't.

Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told Congress the agency saw a 25% increase in attrition during the fall 2025 shutdown. More than 1,000 officers quit in just the first two months of that crisis. The current shutdown is tracking to be worse. Every officer who leaves takes months of specialized training with them — and there's no quick replacement pipeline.

According to the American Association of Airport Executives, TSA employees have worked without pay for nearly half of all workdays in fiscal year 2026.

What's Next

The math is grim. The Senate can't reach 60 votes. The House is currently out on a scheduled policy retreat in Florida. Democrats won't fund ICE without reforms. Republicans won't accept reforms as a condition. Neither side appears willing to blink.

Meanwhile, the travel industry's "Pay Federal Aviation Workers" campaign is gaining momentum, pushing for legislation that would guarantee TSA workers on-time pay during any future funding lapse. Federal employees are technically guaranteed back pay under a 2019 law — but as union leaders keep pointing out, you can't pay rent with a promise.

The stakes extend beyond spring break. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to U.S. cities this summer, bringing millions of international visitors through the very airports now buckling under staffing shortages. CNN reported that wait times may not improve anytime soon, even with TSA's emergency deployment of its National Deployment Force — a "SWAT team of screeners" that officials acknowledge is a Band-Aid, not a solution.

The fall 2025 shutdown caused roughly 9,000 flight delays and cancellations and a $6 billion hit to the travel industry. This one could be worse.

Watch for two things: whether moderate senators from either party break ranks to force a deal, and whether TSA resignation numbers accelerate past the point of operational viability. There's a tipping point somewhere — where enough officers simply can't afford to keep working for free — and nobody knows exactly where it is.

We ask these people to keep us safe every time we fly. We just don't ask Congress to keep them fed while they do it.