American Federation of Government Employees District 5 National Vice President Tatishka Thomas told Newsmax on Thursday that Congress must immediately fund the Department of Homeland Security and pay workers.
She warned that the ongoing standoff is taking a serious toll on both national security and employee morale.
DHS has been partially shut down for more than a month due to a funding impasse on Capitol Hill, with federal lawmakers divided over broader immigration and agency-funding provisions.
The stalemate has left thousands of DHS employees working without pay as negotiations remain deadlocked.
Speaking on "National Report," Thomas said the solution is simple and long overdue.
"We don't need this to go on any longer," she said. "We just need Congress to actually do their job … and actually get the government back up and running and pay our TSA workers."
Thomas pointed to increasing strain within the Transportation Security Administration where hundreds of agents have quit and thousands more have called in sick as the funding lapse drags on.
"You have TSA officers not being able to actually pay for day care, so they can't come into work," Thomas said. "You have them not being able to actually pay for gas."
"Gas prices are extraordinarily high right now … they can't pay for gas to come into work," she said. "So they're calling in sick."
Thomas added that some TSA households are being hit especially hard, including couples who both work for the agency and are now going unpaid. The consequences, she said, are escalating quickly.
"You have some officers that are a husband-and-wife team … and they both are not getting paid," Thomas said. "Some of them even started receiving an eviction notice and actual foreclosures on their houses."
"This needs to end now."
Despite the hardship, Thomas emphasized many TSA officers continue showing up out of a sense of duty to the American people. However, she said, that commitment should not be taken lightly.
"They're just there because they know they actually have a good job. They want to do what's right," Thomas said. "They want to still protect the American people … that's the oath that they actually took … but of course, they want to get paid to do their job."
Addressing the political back-and-forth in Washington, Thomas called on lawmakers to act and said funding DHS and paying its workforce should not be controversial.
"They just need to do their job," Thomas said. "They just need to actually fund the government, open up the government and pay … Coast Guard, FEMA, and TSA employees."
"They just need to get it done," she said.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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