Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airports are among the airports around the country refusing to play a video with a message from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in which she blames Democrats for the\u00a0federal government shutdown\u00a0and its impacts on Transportation Security Administration operations.<\/p>\n
The video goes against Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International’s (FLL) advertising policy, which spokesperson Arlene Satchell said in a statement on Tuesday “does not permit political messaging to be displayed in our facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami International Airport spokesperson Greg Chin said in a statement that MIA is not playing Noem’s video but will continue to play the Transportation Security Administration’s existing Real ID awareness video.<\/p>\n
“At MIA, we deeply value and support our TSA partners and the vital role they play in ensuring the safety of our passengers every day. To be consistent with Miami-Dade County policy regarding messaging within the MIA terminal, MIA will continue playing TSA\u2019s existing Real ID awareness video, which provides passengers with important, time-sensitive information directly related to their travel experience and federal requirements,” Chin’s statement said in part.<\/p>\n
Airports in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Seattle and more say the video\u2019s political content goes against their policies or regulations prohibiting political messaging in their facilities.<\/p>\n
Various government agencies, in emails to workers and on websites, have adopted\u00a0language that blames Democrats\u00a0for the shutdown. Some experts argue it could be in violation of the 1939 Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees.<\/p>\n
The shutdown has disrupted routine operations at\u00a0some airports, leading to flight delays. Democrats say any deal to reopen the government has to address their health care demands, and Republicans say they won\u2019t negotiate until they agree to fund the government. Some medical insurance premiums would double if Congress fails to renew the subsidy payments that expire Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
In the video, Noem says the TSA\u2019s \u201ctop priority\u201d is to help make travel pleasant and efficient while keeping passengers safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n
The TSA falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Roughly 61,000 of the agency\u2019s 64,130 employees are required to continue working during the shutdown.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for DHS responded to a request for comment restating some of the message from Noem\u2019s video.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate our workforce has been put in this position due to political gamesmanship. Our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government,\u201d spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n
DHS said Friday that the video is being rolled out to airports across the country.<\/p>\n
In Columbus, Ohio, the video was not being aired at John Glenn International Airport as of Tuesday. Spokesperson Breann Almos said it is under legal review but did not provide a timeline.<\/p>\n
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, said it would not air the videos, citing rules against \u201cpolitically partisan messages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near the border with Canada, travelers won\u2019t see the video at Buffalo Niagara International Airport or Niagara Falls International Airport. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority said its \u201clong-standing\u201d policy and regulations prohibit \u201cpartisan messaging\u201d in its facilities.<\/p>\n
The Chicago Department of Aviation said advertising and public service announcements must follow guidelines that \u201cprohibit content that endorses or opposes any named political party.\u201d Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas said it had to \u201cremain mindful of the Hatch Act\u2019s restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPer airport regulations, the terminals and surrounding areas are not designated public forums, and the airport\u2019s intent is to avoid the use of the facility for political or religious advocacy,\u201d the airport\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said the county north of New York City won\u2019t play the video at its local airport. In a statement, he called the video \u201cinappropriate, unacceptable, and inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation\u2019s top public officials,\u201d and said its tone is \u201cunnecessarily alarmist\u201d as it relates to operations at Westchester County Airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when we should be focused on ensuring stability, collaboration and preparedness, this type of messaging only distracts from the real issues, and undermines public trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Even in red states, airports weren\u2019t showing the video for various reasons. Salt Lake City International Airport wasn\u2019t playing it because state law prohibits using city-owned property for political purposes, said airport spokesperson Nancy Volmer.<\/p>\n
The airport in Billings, Montana, \u201cpolitely declined\u201d even though it has screens that could show the video with audio, assistant aviation director Paul Khera said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to get in the middle of partisan politics,\u201d Khera said. \u201cWe like to stay middle of the road, we didn\u2019t want to play that video.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airports are among the airports around the country refusing to play a video…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,4367],"class_list":["post-3889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-u-s-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889","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=3889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}