Elon Musk Offers To Cover TSA Workers’ Salaries As Shutdown Leaves Them Without Pay for Over a Month

Elon Musk offered to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers who have gone unpaid for over a month now due to a partial shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday morning.

Republicans and Democrats are currently in a standoff over DHS funding as TSA workers continue working without pay. Airports have been hit with unusually long lines and staffing shortages amid the shutdown. Democrats have indicated they would want to fund TSA separately from DHS and its immigration operations.

TSA union leader George Borek warned Fox Business this week that security risks are being heightened and they are only going to get worse due to the shutdown. Borek noted that a previous shutdown led to agents leaving and a hiring freeze has kept staffing levels low. The new shutdown, he argued, will only deplete the staff of agents further.

“The acting director yesterday said we had 400 some odd agents that so far have signaled that they’re leaving,” he said. “That number is going to grow exponentially.”

Adam Stahl, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator, also told Fox News this week that airports might “literally shut down” if a funding deal for DHS is not reached.

One Democrat who has broken with his colleagues on DHS funding is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who praised Musk’s offer. Pennsylvania is one of a number of states with major airports hit by delays during the partial shutdown.

“This is incredibly generous. TSA agents across the country are relying on food pantries and community donations just to get by,” the senator wrote. “I remain the lone Dem to vote with my Republican colleagues to fully fund DHS and get people paid.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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