Kamal Ghorui
The White House has rejected Elon Musk’s offer to fund Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers’ salaries. Last week, Musk shared an X post writing “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country.” Rejecting the offer, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson told Fortune: “We greatly appreciate Elon’s generous offer. This would pose great legal challenges due to his involvement with federal government contracts.” He further added that the fastest way to ensure TSA employees get paid would be for “Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
Funding crisis due to US partial shutdown
TSA that comes under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently facing a funding issue as Congress debates its immigration policies. Because of the partial shutdown that began on January 30, TSA agents received their first zero pay cheque on March 13.According to the DHS, up to 10% of TSA agents did not report to work on some days this week. In some airports, absence rates have reached around 20%. TSA agents usually start with a salary of about $40,000 a year, and the DHS employs nearly 50,000 of them.Due to the shutdown, the passengers are experiencing longer waits and unpredictable checkpoint staffing. On March 25, TSA said that the wait times have hit the worst levels in the agency’s history, with some passengers waiting more than four and a half hours to clear security. As quoted in a Fortune report, acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that TSA has lost more than 480 transportation security officers since the funding lapse began on Feb. 14, now roughly 40 days ago.
