The Department of Homeland Security reversed course Sunday morning after saying that it would suspend TSA PreCheck because of the partial government shutdown.
“TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement. “As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly.”
A DHS official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal processes, said the change was “based off of conversations the secretary had with the White House and TSA.”
The Global Entry program, however, will remain paused, according to the official.
TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are two popular programs that allow some travelers to move more quickly through airport security. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem had said in a statement Saturday that the agency was “making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions” and prioritizing the “general traveling population” at airports and ports of entry.
Saturday’s announcement that TSA PreCheck would be suspended had drawn swift criticism. The ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, accused the Trump administration of punishing air travelers and increasing the burden on DHS employees by pausing the PreCheck and Global Entry programs.
“The administration must reverse this decision immediately,” he said in a statement Saturday.
Air and travel industry trade groups said pausing the programs on such short notice would be especially disruptive.
Chris Sununu, president and CEO of the trade association Airlines for America, said in a statement Sunday that air travelers had become a “political football” and described the programs’ suspensions as “deeply concerning.”
“Travelers should be prioritized, not leverage,” Geoff Freeman, head of the U.S. Travel Association, an industry group, said in a statement Sunday accusing Democratic and Republican lawmakers of prioritizing politics over air traffic controllers, TSA, Customs and Border Protection, and the travel experience.
The changes the department said it would be making starting Sunday include suspending airport police escorts for members of Congress and other expedited services.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also halt all “non-disaster related response to prioritize disasters,” Noem said, noting the upcoming winter storm this weekend. The Washington Post previously reported that DHS had halted almost all travel amid the standoff over the department’s funding. DHS is now requiring approval for all Federal Emergency Management Agency travel, including for disaster relief.
The partial shutdown of DHS operations stems from a standoff in Congress over the appropriations bill that provides money for the department. Democrats in Congress have demanded that Republicans agree to impose new restrictions on DHS after federal personnel shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renée Good, last month in Minneapolis.
The White House negotiated with Democrats, but the two sides did not reach a deal before DHS funding ran out on Feb. 14.
Democrats have insisted that federal agents wear body cameras and stop wearing masks, get judicial warrants before raiding people’s homes, stop raids on “sensitive sites” such as churches and schools, and adhere to a new code of conduct similar to those of state and local police, among other demands.
Congress has been gone from Washington for the past week on a prescheduled recess. Democratic leaders have been negotiating with White House officials over the break and sent a counteroffer Monday, according to a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York).
The federal government has endured two other shutdowns in recent months, including one that lasted 43 days in the fall because of an impasse over expiring subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans. Much of the government briefly shut down several weeks ago before Congress passed legislation to reopen it.
This shutdown is narrower: Lawmakers have funded every department except DHS, limiting the impact to an estimated 13 percent of the civilian federal workforce.
The agencies within DHS to which Democrats are demanding changes — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — will probably be able to continue their operations uninterrupted because of an influx of money from the Republican tax and spending law that President Donald Trump signed last year. DHS received $170 billion, including $75 billion for ICE.
But other agencies, including FEMA and TSA, are more vulnerable to the funding lapse. According to DHS’s September shutdown plan, 91 percent of its employees would continue to work without pay. The first missed paycheck would be March 3.
Republicans have warned that failing to fund DHS would hinder its operations, even as Trump’s campaign to detain and deport undocumented immigrants continues.
“If the Department of Homeland Security is defunded, the pain will extend throughout the country,” Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said on the Senate floor before the shutdown started.
Democrats have countered that they did not want to disrupt the operations of TSA and other agencies that do not play a role in immigration enforcement. But Democrats see federal agents’ aggressive tactics as such a threat that they were willing to block funding for the entire department until Republicans agree to the new restrictions they’ve demanded.
“My wish is for my Republican colleagues to be just as upset as they are about what is going to happen next week at TSA or at FEMA as for the children that are being traumatized right now in this country, who are being thrown in what’s called the ‘baby jail’ outside of San Antonio — the lives that are fundamentally changed by an immigration policy that is out of control,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said on the Senate floor this month.
Brianna Sacks and Leo Sands contributed to this report.
The post DHS reverses course on suspending TSA PreCheck after outcry appeared first on Washington Post.
