{"id":690429,"date":"2026-03-29T15:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690429\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:41:11","slug":"weekend-tsa-lines-shorten-at-bush-airport-amid-government-shutdown-unclear-how-long-it-will-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690429\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend TSA lines shorten at Bush Airport amid government shutdown, unclear how long it will last"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 A dramatic shift at Houston\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/George_Bush_Intercontinental_Airport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/George_Bush_Intercontinental_Airport\/\">George Bush Intercontinental Airport<\/a> surprised travelers Saturday night. TSA security lines that stretched for hours earlier this week had shrunk to just 10 to 15 minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/team\/6QGHF6GTPRHGJKAN365F26QGIM\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/team\/6QGHF6GTPRHGJKAN365F26QGIM\/\">KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel<\/a> was inside Terminal A, where checkpoint lines were nearly empty. Despite the shorter waits, some families were not taking any chances and arrived at the airport hours, or even an entire night, ahead of their flights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s been dead. There\u2019s nobody here,\u201d said traveler David De Los Santos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">De Los Santos and his family arrived nearly 11 hours before their early morning flight to Tokyo, fearing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/28\/emergency-tsa-pay-order-offers-hope-at-houston-airports-but-long-lines-persist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/local\/2026\/03\/28\/emergency-tsa-pay-order-offers-hope-at-houston-airports-but-long-lines-persist\/\">repeat of the long lines seen earlier this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to miss the flight. It leaves at five in the morning, so we showed up early, like at six o\u2019clock this afternoon, just to make sure I can get in line in enough time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Jared Oubre\u2019s family also opted to spend the night at the airport rather than risk a morning rush with young children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019d just try to get through security and sleep at our gate so that we don\u2019t have to stand in line with our young children,\u201d Oubre said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">It remains unclear exactly why lines have shortened significantly, but Wednesday President Donald Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/politics\/2026\/03\/27\/the-latest-house-considers-whether-to-approve-funding-for-tsa-and-most-of-homeland-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/politics\/2026\/03\/27\/the-latest-house-considers-whether-to-approve-funding-for-tsa-and-most-of-homeland-security\/\">signed an emergency order<\/a> to pay TSA agents as soon as Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Meanwhile, lawmakers remain at a standstill over Department of Homeland Security funding. The Senate approved a plan to fund TSA and other homeland security agencies, but the House has not agreed, prolonging the government shutdown. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">TSA agents have gone more than a month without pay, leading to increased callouts and fewer staff at security checkpoints \u2014 contributing to the hours-long lines earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">De Los Santos said the funding delay was disappointing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI think it\u2019s a really good thing. I think that it\u2019s pretty unfortunate that they\u2019ve gone this long without getting paid to begin with. It\u2019s just disappointing knowing that our government\u2019s failing our workers, our people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Oubre said he is hopeful the shorter lines remain through the morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019ll just try to be ahead of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">It is unclear how long the shorter wait times will last. Travelers are encouraged to check the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fly2houston.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.fly2houston.com\/\">Houston Airports website<\/a> and app regularly to monitor TSA wait times and to allow extra time to get through security regardless of current line conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kiwhtN\">More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A dramatic shift at Houston\u2019s George Bush Intercontinental Airport surprised travelers Saturday night. TSA security lines&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":690430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[103954,4345,16847,358,1164,140578,3187],"class_list":["post-690429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-george-bush-intercontinental-airport","tag-houston","tag-iah","tag-texas","tag-travel","tag-tsa","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116313226343519059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}