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Comment by Parrhesia on January 16, 2019 at 6:08pm

Comment by Boris on January 16, 2019 at 5:25pm

The Government Shutdown Exposes Another Reason to Abolish the TSA

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01/11/2019Ryan McMaken

The Transportation Security Administration, a federal agency, is facing a no-show problem with employees, as paychecks are put on hold during the partial government shutdown. This is reportedly leading to longer lines and security problems at airports nationwide. According to CNN ,

Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports...

TSA spokespeople, meanwhile, insist everything is completely normal although absenteeism has "increased by 200% to 300%," according to Marketwatch.

Not everyone was as sanguine about the situation as government officials. One frequent traveler complained “The lines were exceptionally longer than normal, especially for a peak departure time frame of 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.”

Given that the feds admit more employees are skipping work, it's hard to believe that everything's humming along normally — unless workers are lowering security standards to get more people through the line quickly.

But, that, of course, is something the feds insist they would never, ever do.

In any case, the whole affair reminds us of just one of the many pitfalls that come with federalizing airport security and making it all part of one giant, nationwide federal bureaucracy.

TSA screeners are federal employees, and their salaries are paid out of a federal budget — of

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