Airports could be forced into doomsday scenario if Dem DHS shutdown drags on: ‘We’re fully stretched’

NY Post ^ | 3/17/26 | Ryan King

[Libloather]

WASHINGTON — Airports across the country could soon be forced to shut down entirely due to the Democrat-led partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, a top TSA official warned Tuesday.

“We’re fully stretched,” acting Deputy Transportation Security Administration Administrator Adam Stahl told “Fox & Friends.”

“Frankly, there’s not much else we can do. As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up.

“A lot of these officers can’t afford to come in.”

TSA screeners — who make an average of $45,000 per year — have been working without full pay for weeks, and cracks in the system are starting to rapidly show.

They received partial pay at the end of February and missed their full paychecks last Friday.

Airports across the country have been warning travelers to get to the airport 3 to 4 hours early to compensate for massive lines.

Fully 10% of TSA screeners called out of work on Sunday — up from around 2% daily before the shutdown.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: airports; democrats; doomsday; shutdown

[Libloather]

You can thank Chuckles. The commie would probably like to hear from everyone.

[Skywise]

Executive order - let the airports hire their own security like they did pre TSA.

[BenLurkin]

It seems the Democrats have gone from implementing unintentionally deleterious policies to waging active war on the American people.

[GingisK]

Air travel was a lot better before the Feds decided to help.

[butlerweave]

The democrats , Safety Who-cares , they want all those Illegal Voters

[Fledermaus]

I have a radical idea - shut down all air flight and blame it on the Dems for not funding TSA.

[DHerion]

Send the national guard in.

[Regulator]

Gosh, back in the day...we didn’t need Checkpoint Charlie to go flying.

We controlled the borders back then. So the trash didn’t get in.

It’s true we had some DB Coopers and the occasional deranged Leftist hijackers who wanted to go to Cuba, but they stopped flying 727’s a while ago so you can’t bail out and Castro started deporting the hijackers because who needs criminals in your country? Not even Fidel.

We surrender a lot when we leave the front doors to the country wide open.

[butlerweave]

You can thank islam

[Carl Vehse]

If TSA agents are not being paid, they should stay home and the airports and airlines can just shut down.

Blame the traitorous Demonicrats and RINOcrats in the Senate for the economic crisis, and vote them out in November, preferably as they sit in a cell awaiting their trials for giving aid and comfort to the domestic and foreign enemies of the United States.

[KitJ]

"Executive order - let the airports hire their own security like they did pre TSA."

I like that idea. Also using the National Guard (DHerion).

I'm old enough to remember before TSA was a thing, and after 9/11, armed Guardsmen providing security at airports. And doing a very good job at it.

I'm also old enough to remember when there weren't metal detectors, you could go to the gate to dropoff/pickup friends and loved ones, when hot meals were served on airplanes, and when the armrests came with ashtrays.

++++

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[mikey_hates_everything]

What “doomsday”? If it’s that important to the airlines to keep running, they can cut daily checks to the workers who show up.

[angrymarine]

Be pretty good judo to use this moment to get rid of TSA entirely (they are worthless and expensive), and, instead have airports responsible for security and government agencies responsible for inspection and certification (the security evaluation yielding insurability and impacting cost). security cost borne by economies benefiting from having the airport nearby, technology driven by market forces. Before you disregard, consider the genius tsa power wielder blowing out their pants seams and confiscating your nail clippers in the bag check line and ask (axe) yourself if this makes you safe.

[for-q-clinton]

Trump should just shut it all down.

[Ronald77]

Good time for the airlines to accept responsibility for passengers safety and unburden the taxpayers from this business cost.

[Tell It Right]

And families could watch planes takeoff and land from windows near the runways. And kids flying on the plane would get cockpit tours from the pilots.

Then came the religion of pieces. Diversity is the left's strength.

[Skywise]

Ah - when I was a wee lad. My family dropped my grandparents off at the airport for their trip to Europe. This was just before metal detectors showed up in airports and we walked all the way down and sat with them at the gate and watched them board. I recall a later trip for them where the airport had setup the security checkpoint before the gates. 2 collapsible tables and a walk through metal detector that was aerodynamically styled.

My first job, pre 9/11, was out of state so I flew back home fairly often and I’d arrive at the airport 15 minutes before departure, sprint through the terminal, threw my bag through the metal detector and would hop on just as they closed the doors!

It’s no fun now

[Sgt_Schultze]

Trump should LOUDLY announce there will be NO use of ANY government planes by members of Congress. They MUST be delayed in airports with angry and inconvenienced members of the public whose lives are being affected by their actions.

[KitJ]

The first flight I remember, and many in my youth after that, was at about 6 years old.

Any kids on the flight were invited to the cockpit where the pilots loved showing off all the buttons and knobs. We got little, plastic, pin-on wings with the airline’s logo. The stews handed out decks of cards with the airline logo, or coloring books and crayons.

Meals were served hot, tasty, and filling, with real metal flatware and glass cups. Snacks were available in between. Even for 3-4 hour flights.

Flying commercial was a grand adventure, and enjoyable. I’m Gen-X and must be the last generation to have enjoyed those days.

Sad.

++++
Please remember to make a donation to FreeRepublic. Support this site with a few bucks a month. It’s very easy.

Monthly $5, $10, $15, $30 (dollar a day!), $100, $1,000. Knock yourself out.

There are hundreds of thousands of daily readers and posters (more?). If even 10,000 members sent ten bucks a month, the quarterly fundraisers could disappear before it even starts.

[unixfox]

“We’re fully stretched,”

When I see multiple agents on "break" or standing around, they aren't stretched. They are lazy.