TSA says PreCheck will remain operational at airports
The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that TSA PreCheck, a program that allows travelers to move through airport security more quickly, would remain available, hours after announcing that it would be suspended.
“At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement Sunday. The agency added that it would evaluate the situation “as staffing constraints arise” because of the continuing shutdown and adjust operations accordingly.
DHS had said in an earlier statement that it would pause its TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs starting Sunday at 6 a.m. Eastern to “refocus department personnel on the majority of travelers.”
The department, which oversees TSA, also said it would suspend all courtesy and family police escorts at airports for members of Congress. The Global Entry program remained suspended, according to the DHS website.
The moves are among several measures the department is taking after its funding lapsed Feb. 14. Lawmakers have been deadlocked over a proposal to restore funding.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in the statement early Sunday that the department was making “tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions,” and accused Democrats, who have withheld their votes to continue funding the agency, of endangering national security.
Noem added that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would “halt all non-disaster related response to prioritize disasters.” A major snowstorm was expected to pummel the East Coast on Sunday.
Federal assistance will not continue for “legacy disasters” during the shutdown, according to the department. The agency will only carry out activities for new or recent disasters “requiring immediate emergency action to protect lives or prevent catastrophic damage,” the department said.
Some Democratic lawmakers had questioned how the suspension of the priority security screening services would help the department manage the shutdown. “TSA PreCheck and Global Entry REDUCE airport lines and ease the burden on DHS staff,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, the party’s top member of the Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. He accused the Trump administration of “purposely punishing the American people.”
TSA PreCheck allows departing travelers to use a separate – and usually much shorter – line through airport security. Global Entry speeds travelers through customs screening when they return to the United States.
By withholding their votes to fund the department, Democrats are seeking to rein in another branch of the department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose agents have been carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The Department of Homeland Security oversees ICE, the agency that has been under renewed scrutiny following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Democrats are pushing for a range of new restrictions on immigration agents, including requiring them to obtain warrants from judges to make arrests in homes, mandating that they show visible identification and prohibiting face coverings for agents. Republicans have objected to many of the demands, which they consider overly burdensome.
Although DHS funding has lapsed, most of its operations are still being carried out, and department leaders have said that essential functions will continue. ICE and Customs and Border Protection are expected to remain largely unaffected if the shutdown is not prolonged.
About 95% of the TSA’s roughly 60,000 employees are required to work during a shutdown. But there is a risk that the shutdown could cause airport delays, and the longer the standoff lasts, the more travelers and others could feel its effects as unpaid workers begin to call in sick or don’t show up for work.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.