Welcome to Hotel Houston. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
Or at least you might have to wait four hours in the security line at the airport.
Travelers are likely second-guessing coming to our fair city given our ignominious place atop the nation’s worst of the worst for long airport lines and unpaid Transportation Security Administration worker callouts amid the ongoing partial government shutdown.
And it couldn’t come at a worse time. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo may be over but we’ve got CERAWeek, two Sweet Sixteen college basketball matches, opening day for the Houston Astros, the Houston Open golf tournament and the last hurrahs of spring break. We’re even seeing reports of local organizations rescheduling long-planned events so that attendees don’t have to endure the multi-hour waits at our airports.
Meanwhile, the unpaid airport workers now have to deal with ICE agents shadowing them and sipping Starbucks like bored summer interns (only they’re getting paid and the TSA workers aren’t).
The public cares. Do our lawmakers?
Sen. John Cornyn already offered his fast food photo opportunity. Sen. Ted Cruz was supportive of a bill that would’ve separated ICE dollars from Department of Homeland Security funding — putting off the ongoing back-and-forth by Democrats to get reforms from the immigration agency that has repeatedly flouted the law and killed U.S. citizens without any real accountability. But President Donald Trump squashed Republican-led deals to end the airport chaos earlier this week. What’s clear is that even when Republicans make a real effort toward getting a deal, Trump has stood in the way. Apparently the president’s bizarre obsession with the SAVE Act, a poorly crafted and utterly unnecessary ream of new federal voting regulations, matters more than ending the partial shutdown and rescuing our city from Washington-created chaos.
At this point, even a swift resolution to the legislative logjam won’t save Houston from the economic and reputational harm already inflicted.
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. We’ve worked hard to attract tourists and become a destination city, not just a business town. We shouldn’t be penalized for our successes.
Everyone who wants to should be able to cheer on the University of Houston’s men’s basketball team Thursday as they take on Illinois, whether at the Toyota Center or one of many watch parties around town. They should be able to hear from the biggest thinkers in corporate energy from around the world — if that’s their jam — at the George R. Brown Convention Center. They should be able to visit our world-renowned museums and parks to enjoy a family-friendly spring break.
And they shouldn’t have to worry about hours-long wait times at the airport just to get home and tell everyone how wonderful our city is.
Maybe Trump should skip his next flight to Mar-a-Lago and stop by Houston and see for himself — the charming city and the outrageous airport lines.
Or maybe Houston’s delegation in Washington could just do its job, pass a bill to fund the TSA, and dare Trump to veto it.