Key Takeaways:
More than 50,000 TSA officers are working without pay during a five-week DHS funding lapse, with some receiving paychecks as low as $4.
At least 366 TSA agents have quit and airports nationwide have opened food pantries inside terminals to feed the officers screening passengers.
Security lines at major airports including Atlanta, Denver, and Washington, D.C. have stretched past two to three hours as unscheduled callouts spike.
The Department of Homeland Security partial funding lapse that began around February 14 is now in its fifth week, and the people responsible for airport security across the United States cannot afford to eat. TSA officers are classified as essential, which means they must continue screening passengers. They are not getting paid to do it.
The first missed full paycheck hit March 13. Multiple officers reported receiving $0 or single-digit amounts for the pay period ending mid-March. TSA officer Sharre Quick told Business Insider her most recent paycheck was $4. She previously visited employer-organized food pantries during the last shutdown. "I never imagined that protecting the country would one day mean standing in line for food," she said.
At least 366 officers have quit. Hundreds more are calling out daily. The result is security lines stretching two to three hours at major hubs. Salt Lake City International reopened a TSA-specific food pantry on March 13. Seattle-Tacoma's Food Lifeline delivered 10,000 pounds of food to 470 families. Baltimore, Houston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Orlando, Austin, and Atlanta have all set up distributions. The Capital Area Food Bank now lists free sites specifically for federal workers in the D.C. metro.
The AFGE union, which represents TSA, said officers "are coping with eviction notices, vehicle repossession, empty refrigerators, and overdrawn bank accounts." Some are donating blood plasma. Some are sleeping in their cars to save gas. This is the second DHS shutdown in six months.
On March 21, Elon Musk posted on X that he would like to personally pay TSA salaries during the funding impasse. The post drew 86.7 million views, 531,000 likes, and 80,000 reposts. No mechanism for the offer has been announced, and it remains unclear whether the federal government can legally accept private salary payments for civil servants. The fact that the offer exists at all tells the story: a private citizen with 86 million viewers is volunteering to do what the government will not.
The people who screen every bag and every passenger at every airport in the country are standing in food lines on their breaks. That is the system working exactly as designed.
People Also Ask
Q: Are TSA agents getting paid during the 2026 government shutdown? A: No. TSA officers are classified as essential and must work, but the DHS funding lapse means most are receiving no paychecks or partial payments as low as $4.
Q: How many TSA agents have quit during the shutdown? A: At least 366 TSA officers have resigned since the shutdown began, with hundreds more calling out on unscheduled absences daily.
Q: Where can TSA workers get free food during the shutdown? A: Airports in Salt Lake City, Seattle, Baltimore, Houston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and the Washington, D.C. area have opened food pantries and distributions specifically for TSA and other unpaid federal workers.
Q: How long has the 2026 DHS government shutdown lasted? A: The DHS partial funding lapse began around February 14, 2026, making it over five weeks as of March 21, and it is the second DHS shutdown in six months.