Trump’s shutdown now hurting workers with 'paycheck-to-paycheck' jobs

The government shutdown precipitated by President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies is taking a toll on yet another group of working class Americans — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers.

“TSA officers received roughly 30 percent of their pay in a paycheck two weeks ago, but, on Friday, they will miss their first full paycheck while still being expected to show up for work, sparking concern that staffing shortages could soon worsen once more transportation security officers (TSOs) decide to seek other employment,” reported The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky on Thursday. As a result, these workers are expected to not be paid at all on Friday.

“Nearly four weeks into the partial government shutdown — the third to affect DHS employees in recent months — both parties are digging their heels in, holding out hope that their constituents will reward them for refusing to yield in the standoff,” Fortinsky added. The Hill then cited statistics from the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) to demonstrate that TSA employees have worked without pay for nearly half of all the fiscal year workdays in 2026 because of the government shutdowns.

AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli told The Hill that “that’s the federal government failing them.” Although they are expected to get paid eventually, “these are paycheck-to-paycheck jobs. So if this thing goes on for a long time, people are going to start leaving.”

TSA workers are not the only ones to be hit hard by the shutdown. During the last shutdown in October, Trump threatened to withhold pay from furloughed federal workers as a bargaining tool to force Democrats to comply with them. In addition to federal workers being harmed by the shutdowns themselves, Trump has also laid off tens of thousands of federal workers who had previously had protected job status. As part of Project 2025, Trump wishes to lay off the nonpartisan workforce and replace them with substitutes who will be loyal to him and the ideals of the MAGA movement.

In February Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) admitted to Semafor that both parties are shutting down the government for political advantage.

“This is all about the midterms. That’s all it is,” Justice told Semafor. “The messaging of this, Democrats are really good at that. They really are. And they are really good at using stuff like this to be able to maneuver things to their political advantage. That’s what all this is about.”

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