The Transportation Security Administration, where employees are going unpaid amid a partial government shutdown, said today that unscheduled absences among airport security officers rose to a record 10 percent Sunday as the shutdown reached its 30th day.
The agency said the rate was up from the previous high of 7 percent on Saturday. It also was more than three times the 3.1 percent absence rate on the same day last year, when the government also was partially closed due to legislative funding issues.
But despite the record sick-outs, the agency said in a statement Monday that wait times on Sunday were within normal ranges.
“Nationwide, the Transportation Security Administration screened 1.78 million passengers yesterday. Overall, 99.9 percent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes and 93.1 percent of passengers waited less than 15 minutes,” the agency said.
Average wait times Sunday at JFK were 22 minutes while the average was 29 minutes at LaGuardia and 18 minutes at Newark.
As the partial government shutdown continues, air safety has become a top concern as the number of TSA agents not showing up for work grows.
The agency said many employees, who are not being paid because of the shutdown, are not reporting to work because of financial hardships. More than 50,000 TSA officers are among some 800,000 federal workers who have been ordered to stay home or work without pay during the shutdown.
Some airports experienced longer wait times at security checkpoints, and on Sunday, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport closed one of its checkpoints because of excessive absences.
About one-quarter of the government has been shuttered since Dec. 22 over President Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to fund a wall along the border with Mexico, and Democrats’ refusal to consider it.