House and Senate Republicans, TSA Deputy Administrator Expose the Real-World Toll of the Democrat Shutdown
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) hosted a press conference alongside TSA Acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl to highlight the real-world consequences of the Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Thirty-nine days into the Democrat shutdown, TSA agents are working without pay, donating plasma to put food on the table, and sleeping in their vehicles just to save on gas. This is what Democrat obstruction looks like in the real world, and it is unconscionable. RSC members will not stop fighting until DHS is funded and the Americans who protect this country can afford to feed their families.
Members in attendance at the press conference included RSC Messaging Task Force Chair Mark Alford (MO-04), Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), RSC Budget and Spending Task Force Chair Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26), Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08), Rep. Dale Strong (AL-05), and Rep. Randy Fine (FL-06).
Key Quotes from the Press Conference:
RSC Messaging Task Force Chair Mark Alford (MO-04): “This is the stupidest shutdown in U.S. history. We fully funded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the first reconciliation bill, and now the Democrats are holding the American people hostage for more than a month…The Democrats know their plan is not working. They know Americans are hurting, and they are still doing it anyway. They want to make Americans hurt. They want to make Americans suffer. Airports are backed up. TSA agents are working without pay and are going on a third paycheck that they're going to miss this week. Coast Guard families are wondering how to make ends meet, and Democrats are now floating what they themselves call a Hail Mary political stunt instead of doing their jobs. Folks, this is not leadership. It is recklessness.”
TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl: “This without action is going to continue to get worse. The environment itself is going to get more challenging. One of the impacts is the traveling population. We're seeing three to four hour wait times across the United States. This, again, is going to get worse before it gets better if Senate Democrats don't act and don't act soon. And then secondly, as Members referenced, the particularly acute impacts financially to our workforce. We got folks sleeping in cars...I talked to a single mother recently, who has a three year old child with special needs who can't afford to pay for child care. We have folks having to pay, essentially get blood, blood drawn to afford gas to come to work. So the situation is dire.”
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL): "Here's what's so unfair. House members and senators make $174,000 a year. Average TSA agents make $50,000 a year. Now, I've got one of my Democrat colleagues in the Senate who said, ‘Oh, I can't go without pay. I've got a mortgage.’ He's making $174,000 a year. You know, the average net worth of a Democrat Senator is 3 million bucks. So people in the Senate want to make sure they get paid, but they're okay with TSA agents not getting paid. TSA agents can't pay the mortgage, can't pay the rent, can't put food on the table. They have to go to food banks. In my state, they're quitting because they're sick and tired of being treated like dirt. Why? Why are they doing this to the public? These wait times where people go to the airport at three o'clock in the morning and miss a flight. So this is all for a message.”
RSC Budget and Spending Task Force Chair Beth Van Duyne (TX-24): “Let's be clear about why we're here today. We're here because Democrats have been very vocal that they want to get rid of ICE. When Democrats tell you what they think, believe them. When they tell you what they are going to do, believe them. This is the party of defunding police. This is the party of defunding ICE. Except there's one thing. We had an election in November. Americans spoke loud and clear. They want our laws to be carried out, and they want folks who are here illegally to be removed. This was very clear. They don't really seem to care on the Democrat Senate side that we've passed a bill that would fund TSA, that would fund our Coast Guard, that would fund FEMA in a time when we need it, and that would continuing funding securing of our border. No, instead, they are turning a blind eye at people like the single mom who was killed at a bus station. They're turning a blind eye on an Air Force nominee because she was run over by somebody who should never have been in this country. They're not having to talk to those families and explain to them what their priorities are. And as a result, you are seeing tens of thousands of Americans that are suffering. As a direct result, you got 50,000 TSA agents who aren't being paid in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.”
Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26): “It's really clear what the Democrats are doing right now, because they're doing two things at the same time. On the one hand, they've defunded the Department of Homeland Security for the stated purpose of stopping the President from carrying out the immigration agenda that he was elected to do, which is to deport illegal aliens at the same time they're fighting against the SAVE America Act, because they want those very same illegal aliens to be voting in American elections. I don't know what other logical conclusion we can draw from the past couple months of Democrat idiocy, other than that they want to systematically weaponize mass migration to flood our communities with illegal aliens in order to rig American elections in their favor and against Republicans. So much of Democrat policy is, in fact, based on flooding American communities with hostile foreigners, putting their interests above the interests of the American people, and weaponizing them politically for electoral gain.”
Rep. Dale Strong (AL-05): “In the three years the short time I've served in Congress, this has got to be one of the top two dumbest decisions that I've seen since I've been here. The first is letting 15 million illegal aliens into this country. The second is not funding the Department of Homeland Security. We've got to solve this problem. We've got a President doing his job. It's time for Congress to do their job.”
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (FL-08): “It's a shame on Congress for this simple reason, when we came into office in 2024 as one simple issue, we wanted to secure the border. We finally secured the border. Now we need to rid our country of folks who have broken the law once they got here, and then the Democrats now have the gall to actually gut the Department of Homeland Security. It's just a fundamental responsibility of the government to protect your life and property, and they are not stepping up. It's time for Democrats to simply meet their constitutional responsibility and their number one oath when they take the oath of office, and that is to protect life and property.”
Rep. Randy Fine (FL-06): “Since the conflict in Iran started, there have been four terrorist attacks in four states by five people who weren't talking to each other, whether it was in New York or Texas or Michigan, and the people at the Department of Homeland Security who are supposed to be investigating that they are not getting paid. What's going on is a violation of the oath that those Democrats swore to put Americans first to fight for America. We've got to get the Department of Homeland Security paid, and these people who are in this building right now working for free. It is an embarrassment that every one of those Democrats should deal with, every single one of them.”