A woman in Indiana who put off dental surgery because she doesn\u2019t know if she can afford the copay. A Florida couple with young children who are depleting their savings. A grandmother in Idaho who plans to sell her car to pay the rent. <\/p>\n
They are among about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers expecting to receive another $0 paycheck this week. A dispute in Congress<\/a> over funding the Department of Homeland Security has held up their salaries since mid-February. With monthly bills coming due, many of these federal employees, who screen passengers and luggage at airports across the U.S., are making difficult choices about how to make ends meet. <\/p>\n High absentee rates at some major airports<\/a> have produced long lines and frustrated passengers at understaffed security checkpoints. Union leaders and federal officials say empty gas tanks, child care expenses and the threat of eviction keep more screeners from showing up the longer the shutdown continues. At last count, more than 455 had quit<\/a> instead of weathering the ongoing uncertainty, according to DHS. <\/p>\n \u201cStop asking me about the long lines. Ask me if somebody\u2019s gonna eat today,\u201d Hydrick Thomas, president of the national American Federation of Government Employees union council that represents TSA employees, told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: TSA officers share how they\u2019re scraping by without pay\n <\/p>\n AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on TSA officers who haven\u2019t received a full paycheck for weeks.<\/p>\n Indiana TSA agent turns to food pantry for groceries<\/p>\n Before starting her shift at Indianapolis International Airport on Monday, Taylor Desert stopped at a food bank<\/a> for meat, eggs, vegetables and dairy products. <\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I would be in a position where, working for the federal government, I would need to go to a food bank to supplement my groceries,\u201d she said as she loaded bags into her car.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire: Desert, who has been a TSA officer for seven years, said her last full paycheck came on Feb. 14, the day the shutdown started. <\/p>\n She had some savings to draw on despite a record 43-day shutdown last fall but put some personal plans on pause. <\/p>\n For example, Desert needs to get her wisdom teeth removed but says the TSA isn\u2019t approving time off during the shutdown. She also worries about costs from the surgery not covered by insurance. <\/p>\n Wednesday was the 39th day of the DHS funding lapse. If it goes another 21 days, Desert said she would seek another job.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to have to spend my entire savings just to afford to keep living,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Florida TSA couple worry about their young children<\/p>\n Oksana Kelly, 38, and her husband, Deron, 37, both work as TSA agents at Orlando International Airport. They have two young children and don\u2019t know how they will keep supporting their family without any income coming in. <\/p>\n Kelly said they\u2019re dipping into savings for now, but it\u2019s running dry. If the shutdown<\/a> persists, they will ask relatives for help or take out a loan, which she worries would put them deeper in debt. <\/p>\n Her husband has worked as a DoorDash delivery driver in his spare time since the shutdown in October and November. He\u2019s considered resigning from the TSA to put the couple on more stable financial footing. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very mentally exhausting,\u201d said Kelly, who is an organizer for the labor union representing TSA workers across central and northern Florida. \u201cHow do we even decide between being able to feed our kids or come to work?\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly said strangers might criticize the couple for \u201cputting all eggs in one basket\u201d since both choose to work for the TSA for the past decade.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we want is to pay our bills and get the pay we deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A veteran officer in Idaho fears homelessness<\/p>\n Rebecca Wolf cries every day. She tries to hide it from her grandchildren, ages 11 and 6.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t understand why grandma\u2019s crying,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cI try not to cry in front of them, but sometimes it\u2019s just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n The 53-year-old TSA officer and union leader in Boise, Idaho, joined the agency soon after its creation in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. She was homeless at the time but turned her situation around with steady work and the benefits of federal employment. <\/p>\n Now, Wolf can\u2019t help but dwell on where she was 24 years ago. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be in that position again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her Feb. 28 paycheck amounted to $13.53, sending her \u201cinto a spiral right away.\u201d <\/p>\n With no savings to fall back on, she is preparing to sell her car to cover her rent due in a week. She calls nonprofits daily seeking rental assistance, but hasn\u2019t had any luck.<\/p>\n Supporting six family members \u2014 four children and two grandchildren \u2014 has always been challenging, but the repeated shutdowns have made it nearly unsustainable.<\/p>\n Wolf, who serves as president of AFGE TSA Local 1127, is hesitant to walk away from both the job that turned her life around and her role advocating for fellow officers.<\/p>\n \u201cI worked hard to get to where I am now, and the thought I might lose it all scares me,\u201d she said, her voice breaking as she tried to stifle the sound of weeping.<\/p>\n Massachusetts agent digs into savings to get by <\/p>\n Mike Gayzagian, a TSA officer at Boston\u2019s Logan International Airport, says long stretches without pay have become enough of a \u201cnew normal\u201d that he\u2019s prepared for them.<\/p>\n The 56-year-old says he has a financial cushion of about six months to tap but that his situation is \u201can exception to the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe majority live paycheck to paycheck and don\u2019t have those kinds of reserves available,\u201d said Gayzagian, who is president of his local TSA union<\/a> chapter.<\/p>\n It shouldn\u2019t be this way for federal workers, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe financial situation adds an additional burden to what is already a stressful job,\u201d Gayzagian said. \u201cI didn\u2019t go into public service to make a lot of money. I went into public service because it has a certain stability and reliability and predictability that other jobs don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n A father in Utah leaves TSA <\/p>\n Robert Echeverria quit his job as a TSA agent at Utah\u2019s Salt Lake City International Airport about two weeks into the current shutdown. <\/p>\n
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