WEST PALM BEACH — Transportation Security Administration employees on Wednesday described in detail their financial hardships — bracing for not getting their much-needed paychecks by the end of this workweek.
They shared their stories as congressional leaders in Palm Beach County called for the end of the federal government shutdown.
U.S. Reps. Lois Frankel and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, South Florida Democrats, joined members of the American Federation of Government Employees — a federal employee union — on Wednesday for a news conference aimed at urging federal lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to negotiate an end to the shutdown.
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Republican and Democrat lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term budget, with one of the primary contentions being whether tax subsidies should remain for those who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Frankel and Cherfilus-McCormick are among the Democrats who want to preserve the subsidies, fearing skyrocketing premiums if the subsidies were to vanish. “Democrats have taken the position that we will not vote for a budget that cuts millions of people out of health care,” Frankel said at the news conference outside of Palm Beach International Airport.
But as this stalemate continues and becomes one of the longest shutdowns on record, federal government employees are caught in the middle. If the shutdown persists, TSA employees will miss an entire paycheck by the end of the week but still are expected to work.
AFGE Local 558 President John Hubert speaks during a news conference held next to the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, to call for an end to the U.S. Government shutdown. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“People won’t be able to pay their mortgages, their tuitions, any kind of bill,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “This is not the America that we love and that we care about and we cherish. This is not the country that we all fought so hard to actually preserve. And so we would like for Republicans to come to the table. Let’s find something reasonable to make sure that all Americans actually have an opportunity to survive.”
John Hubert, president for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 558, said some TSA employees have resorted to picking up second jobs as Uber drivers or delivering food with DoorDash just to get by.
“I need the American people to understand that we live in the community just like you. We’re no different than anybody else,” Hubert said. “We need people to come to the table and start negotiating because it’s getting to the point that your own constituents are going to be suffering.”
Mickey Alston, the American Federation of Government Employees PBI Airport vice president and Local 558 women’s fair practice coordinator, speaks during a news conference held next to the Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, to call for an end to the U.S. government shutdown. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Mickey Alston, the American Federation of Government Employees PBI Airport vice president and Local 558 women’s fair practice coordinator, said one of her colleagues recently bought diapers for another colleague who was struggling to pay for food, bills and baby supplies.
“We come to work every day whether we’re getting paid or not because we like what we’re doing. We’re sworn in to do a job and that’s what we’re doing,” Alston said. “I do have a concern as far as how are the workers going to get to work. Because that’s the issue, it’s not that we don’t want to come to work, it’s how we’re going to get to work if we don’t have the gas money to put gas in our cars to get to the place we need to be to protect the American people.”