WASHINGTON — Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives to pass legislation approved by the Senate to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown:
“For nearly six weeks, tens of thousands of Transportation Security Agency (TSA) officers and other dedicated Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees have gone without pay during the partial government shutdown. Now, they are on the brink of missing their third consecutive paycheck.
“Early this morning, the Senate at last agreed on legislation that would end this weeks-long financial nightmare for the dedicated federal workers who have endured. The sad reality is that hundreds could not survive without their paychecks and were forced to leave their jobs. Now, Congress must act before the staffing crisis worsens even more.
“The House of Representatives must immediately take up the Senate-passed legislation and do their part to pay America’s workers, restore order at airport security lines, and end this shutdown.
“We are grateful that action was taken to direct the DHS Secretary to pay TSA employees amid shutdown negotiations. While this action could restore paychecks to TSA professionals as soon as Monday, it leaves other DHS workers, such as civilian Coast Guard members and FEMA employees, hanging in the balance. A bipartisan, bicameral funding solution in Congress is the only way to ensure all workers receive the pay they have earned.
“As America’s largest transportation labor federation, representing hundreds of thousands of aviation professionals, let us say this loud and clear: it is shameful that any member of Congress would skip town for a two-week recess before taking commonsense action to fund the government and pay the very workers who help make their air travel safe and secure.”
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