“Problem Is Solvable”: Airline CEOs Urge Congress To End Shutdown, Pay TSA Workers

The Department of Homeland Security’s social media team on X spent the weekend blaming Democrats for the travel chaos unfolding at airports nationwide, as TSA agents failed to report to work during a funding lapse caused by Senate Democrats’ refusal to fund the DHS budget without reforms to ICE and Border Patrol.

“Thanks to the Democrats’ shutdown, travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are again seeing MASSIVE security lines this morning,” DHS said on X on Saturday. “The Democrats’ political games are making spring break travel a NIGHTMARE for Americans as they continue to withhold funding from DHS and refuse to pay our heroic @TSA officers.”

Thanks to the Democrats’ shutdown, travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport are again seeing MASSIVE security lines this morning.

The Democrats’ political games are making spring break travel a NIGHTMARE for Americans as they continue to withhold funding from DHS and… https://t.co/KsChjpcDnJ

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 15, 2026

DHS said Sunday that “Airports coast to coast are seeing major delays, HOURS-long security lines, and missed flights because of the Democrats’ DHS shutdown.”

Airports coast to coast are seeing major delays, HOURS-long security lines, and missed flights because of the Democrats’ DHS shutdown.

SAVE SPRING BREAK. REOPEN DHS NOW. https://t.co/ABeVfNiG2C

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 15, 2026

A reader on Sunday evening sent ZeroHedge Tips a photo showing, he said, roughly 200 travelers stuck in line at BWI Airport’s international customs, with only two CBP agents staffing the booths while at least a dozen booths sat empty. He added that the Global Entry line had only a handful of passengers, who were waved through quickly, while non-Global Entry travelers were left waiting in what seemed like an hours-long line.

Last weekend, similar travel chaos unfolded at some airports, with TSA lines taking hours just to enter terminals. The disruption prompted ten U.S. airline and aviation heads to pen an open letter to Congress on Sunday, urging lawmakers to resolve the DHS funding dispute.

“That comes as no surprise. Americans—who live in your districts and home states—are tired of long lines at airports, travel delays and flight cancellations caused by shutdown after shutdown. Yet, once again air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown,” the chief executive officers of Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Air Group, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and United Parcel Service wrote in the letter.

The executives continued, “It’s past time for the government to make sure that TSA officers, U.S. Customs clearance officers at airports, and air traffic controllers are paid for the job they do.”

The current political battle has persisted for nearly a month after Senate Democrats refused to fund a DHS budget without reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. Democrats are frustrated that Trump is using the federal government to deport illegal aliens (whom they consider a potential future voting bloc). Democrats would like to see ICE significantly reformed or eliminated, as they view its power as an existential threat to their political party’s survivability.