By Jim Mishler | Monday, 30 March 2026 06:17 PM EDT
President Donald Trump’s move to get Transportation Security Administration employees paid despite a Democrat funding block is only a temporary fix, former TSA Administrator John Pistole said on Monday.
Pistole stated he isn’t surprised most TSA employees kept working without pay. “These are the men and women of TSA — professionals,” he said. “They’ve taken an oath to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And that means even in a dysfunctional Washington with Congress just not doing their job.”
Pistole noted most TSA employees worked “for over five weeks” without being paid. “And now, hopefully, most of them are getting that back pay today,” he said.
The next issue is developing a lasting solution if Democrats continue to refuse funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Pistole added. “So I applaud the pay, but it’s a short-term fix,” he said. “And they need to figure out something long-term through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, to make sure these hardworking men and women can reasonably expect to go to work and get paid.”
Pistole also highlighted other challenges emerging in the coming days: “How many of those 3,500 that called out sick over the weekend will actually come back?” he asked. “And then, how many of those 500 plus — 550 or so — who have resigned? What do they do to replace them in terms of people looking for a good government job with some security if they don’t have that security?”
Pistole pointed to the Iran conflict and asked whether U.S. airports are being properly secured amid the congressional funding dispute.
Major U.S. airports that suffered massive disruptions for weeks after 50,000 TSA security officers went unpaid since mid-February reported operations returning to normal on Monday. Airports in Baltimore, Houston, New York, New Orleans, and Dallas — all of which experienced severe delays recently — now show short lines. The standoff previously caused security lines topping four hours, the longest in the TSA’s nearly 25-year history.
