Wasserman Schultz Meets with South Florida TSA workers as DHS Shutdown Looms

Fort Lauderdale, FL, February 23, 2015
I heard loud and clear from TSA workers who mostly live paycheck to paycheck as it is. This kind of uncertainty will place a real burden on their families and personal lives, the Congresswoman said. "Some shared with me stories from the last government shutdown about not being able to afford gas and some colleagues sleeping in their cars at the airport because they lived too far away. One TSA agent was moved to tears when sharing they were nearly evicted. It's heartbreaking and it's totally unacceptable."
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) met with union and non-union workers of the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) today to hear their concerns as Congress lurches toward a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport hosted the dialogue between the Congresswoman and the employees of the TSA, which is a division of the DHS.
“It is unacceptable that Republican leaders in the House and Senate would not only play games with our national security, but also put the financial security of DHS workers and their families in jeopardy,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz. “Hearing directly from these hard-working men and women reinforces what I and my Democratic colleagues have expressed time and again to Republican leadership – pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Standing on their political soapboxes might feel like the right thing to do for their base, but Republicans need to know their actions have real consequences on American workers,” she continued.
Approximately 50,000 TSA aviation security screeners nationwide would be required to report to work without pay until Congress acts. Salaries scheduled to be distributed on March 16th would be the first pay period impacted.
“I heard loud and clear from TSA workers who mostly live paycheck to paycheck as it is. This kind of uncertainty will place a real burden on their families and personal lives,” the Congresswoman said. “Some shared with me stories from the last government shutdown about not being able to afford gas and some colleagues sleeping in their cars at the airport because they lived too far away. One TSA agent was moved to tears when sharing they were nearly evicted. It’s heartbreaking and it’s totally unacceptable.”
In December, Republicans agreed to keep the Federal government fully funded through Fiscal Year 2015 only by funding DHS through February 28th, as a way to protest President Obama’s executive actions related to immigration reform – legal actions the President took because Republicans have been unable or unwilling to pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz and the entire House Democratic Caucus are united in calling for a clean DHS funding bill.
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