The Transportation Security Administration has witnessed a surge in unscheduled absences during the partial government shutdown, now in its fifth week. “Many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations,” the TSA said. TSA workers are among the 420,000 federal employees working without pay while President Donald Trump is gridlocked with Democrats over funding for his border wall. Many TSA workers live paycheck to paycheck, earning starting salaries of $25,000 to $30,000 a year, as HuffPost’s Nick Robins-Early reported. People on both sides of the political argument are infuriated at this,” one TSA officer told HuffPost in December.

Source: Huffington Post January 21, 2019 20:31 UTC