ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0As the battle over Department of Homeland Security funding continues in Congress, President Donald Trump ordered all TSA officers be \u00a0paid, a temporary solution while lawmakers work towards a funding agreement.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
According to a letter sent to employees, they will receive pay from April 10-16 for work they did between Feb. 14 and April 4
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There will be no more paychecks until Congress can strike a deal on DHS funding
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TSA officers have continued to show up to work at the Orlando International Airport, but there are some new employees in the lines
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A contract that started on April 1 means contracted employees will help keep TSA lines moving, the airport says this is not a response to the shutdown<\/p>\n
TSA employees will receive payments over about a week, from April 10 to April 16. After that, uncertainty returns.<\/p>\n
While workers say they are grateful for the relief, many say it does little to ease long-term concerns. Each day on the job feels routine, but their financial situation does not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis places us in a very uncomfortable situation,\u201d said Hector Vazquez, a TSA officer at the Orlando International Airport. Vasquez took out a loan to cover rent and avoid eviction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing, it\u2019s humiliating, it\u2019s frustrating because I know I am going to get paid this weekend, thank God, but there is no guarantees from now on above,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A letter from the Department of Homeland Security stated employees will receive full pay for work completed between February 14 and April 4. After that, the uncertainty resumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I going to be in the position of eviction again: yes or no? All these questions start coming up and it is honestly detrimental to anyone\u2019s mental health and emotional health,” Vasquez said. “This is very bad, this has got to stop.”<\/p>\n
Vaquez works at the Orlando International Airport where TSA wait times have remained manageable. The airport has signed a contract with Southeast Airport Services to help keep lines moving, with a goal of getting 80% of passengers through in under 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis effort augments that by allowing our TSA staff to focus on their expertise, which is security, leaving some of those supplemental functions, such as the redistribution of bins post security or the divesting of items for screening to this team,\u201d Senior Vice President of Operations at the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Marquez Griffin. <\/p>\n
He spoke during a GOAA board meeting on March 18.<\/p>\n
The contract is valued at $25 million over five years. Officials said the additional staff will allow two more checkpoint lanes to open at east and west security areas.<\/p>\n
Airport leaders emphasized the move is not a response to the current funding uncertainty, noting a pilot program was tested last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have people assisting, filling up those gaps, second on the other side, now we have another position that an officer is really not needed,\u201d Vazquez said.<\/p>\n
Still, Vasquez worries the changes could signal a broader shift. President Trump’s proposed 2027 budget includes about $52 million for TSA privatization efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see it as a subtle way to let\u2019s introduce this as hey, let\u2019s introduce this as a help that possibly can turn into something else,\u201d Vazquez said.<\/p>\n
With continued uncertainty, Vaquez said he is reconsidering his future.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I am a government officer, yes, I took an oath. But, I am a father, and I got bills to pay and I have to take care of my kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vasquez also expressed appreciation for travelers who have shown support.\u00a0He said he wants to thank passengers who have passed through his line and been kind and generous to him and other officers during this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0As the battle over Department of Homeland Security funding continues in Congress, President Donald Trump ordered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,26796,770,28,2582,115,139,141,140,99,9429],"class_list":{"0":"post-223878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-national-politics","10":"tag-community-news","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-government-shutdown","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-orlando","15":"tag-orlando-headlines","16":"tag-orlando-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-sarah-winkelmann"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}