Travelers frustrated with Washington as shutdown drags on: 'I blame them all'

Travelers say they feel deeply sympathetic to the airline workers who have been caught up in the shutdown of DHS — and frustrated with politicians in Washington for letting it all happen.

Amid the long lines and delays at the country’s airports, travelers say they feel deeply sympathetic to the airline workers who have been caught up in the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security — and deeply frustrated with politicians in Washington for letting it all happen.

“These are the people who are suffering enough,” Lizabeth Garza-García, 45, of Fort Worth, Texas, said of Transportation Security Administration agents as she was waiting in line at San Diego International Airport. “We don’t want another 9/11. ... I’d like these people to get funded.”

President Donald Trump signed a memo Friday directing DHS to pay TSA workers, who have missed paychecks during the agency shutdown that began Feb. 14. Employees are expected to receive most of their back pay starting Monday, according to a TSA email shared by an agency officer.

Trump signed the memo after the House rebelled against a Senate-passed compromise that would have funded all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. A senior administration official said the money will come from the One Big Beautiful Bill, the tax-cut and spending legislation Trump signed into law in July.

On why Trump didn’t sign the back pay measure until now, a senior White House official said the administration conducted a “lengthy review process” that “identified a pathway” out of the crisis.