Sacramento TSA workers face lingering strain after 75-day shutdown, pay freeze ends
For transportation security officer Susan Braverman, the end of the 75-day partial government shutdown brought some relief. But after months of stress, including two other shutdowns, she said it was hard to feel comfortable.
“I hate to think that this is only the time between shutdowns,” Braverman said, referring to how the Transportation Security Administration will be funded through September, “but I can’t think of it any other way.”
Braverman was one of hundreds of TSA workers at Sacramento International Airport who had not received steady pay since Feb. 14. That month, a debate over immigration erupted along partisan lines in Congress, and legislators failed to reach an agreement, ultimately cutting off funding to the Department of Homeland Security and, by extension, agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and TSA.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved a Senate-passed bill that funded most of DHS — not including Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol — until October. The Senate unanimously approved the legislation in March, but House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had rejected it, leaving it suspended in the House.
The stand-off was eventually broken after Congressional Republican leaders began pursuing budget reconciliation, which kicked off Wednesday night when the House adopted a GOP resolution to eventually provide billions for immigration and deportation operations, according to The Associated Press. After its passage, President Donald Trump signed the reconciliation bill on Thursday.
Around 95% of TSA employees are deemed essential, which means they are required to continue working while not getting paid, according to the TSA.
Throughout the shutdown, local TSA workers reported turning down doctor visits for their children, borrowing money from in-laws, pulling funds from savings, taking second jobs and missing credit card payments. Braverman said a coworker told her they rolled coins to pay for gas and took daily medications only every other day. They continued reporting to work, sometimes calling out sick, though call-out rates never reached unsustainable levels at Sacramento International Airport.
At Sacramento’s airport, there were up to two instances where security wait times went above 31 minutes, county spokesperson Scott Johnston said. Average wait times are between zero and 15 minutes, according to the MyTSA app.
More than 1,100 TSA agents nationwide left their positions during the shutdown, according to Time magazine. Some of those workers, including new hires and longtime veterans, worked at the Sacramento airport, said James Mudrock, a Transportation Security Administration worker for about 21 years. Mudrock serves as Northern California vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1260, which represents transportation security officers in California, Nevada and Arizona.
“Sacramento didn’t lose as many people as I know a lot of airports did,” Mudrock said, adding he did not know the exact number of people who resigned. “But every loss is a loss.”
TSA workers operated without pay until March 30, after Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin directed TSA on Friday to pay its workforce, a DHS spokesperson said at the time. While workers said they later received all of their back pay and subsequent paychecks, agents were informed that the pool of money used to pay them would run out soon, Mudrock said.
This 75-day partial shutdown also came after TSA workers had already experienced two others within six months. The first shutdown began in October 2025 and lasted 43 days, setting a record for the longest in U.S. history. A partial shutdown followed for four days in early February.
The constant stress of either knowing they weren’t getting paid or waiting to see if they would took its toll, said Braverman, who serves as the AFGE Local 1260 director of women’s and inclusive programs.
“I really wish I didn’t have to be an amateur political scientist to figure out if I’m getting paid,” she said, referring to how often she followed federal politics.
Now, Braverman said, people are in a stage of rebuilding.
TSA worker Eddy Acosta said he was dealing with the repercussions of missing a credit card payment. During an earlier shutdown, he had been able to request an extension from a creditor. This time, he was not granted one.
On the other side of the shutdown, Acosta said he felt relief but also a sense of urgency to protect and expand safeguards for workers like himself.
In response to the shutdown, AFGE Local 1260 secured a sponsor for Senate Bill 1155, which would protect federal workers from eviction during and for 30 days following a shutdown, Mudrock said. The bill was introduced Feb. 18 by Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles, and was scheduled to be heard Monday in the Appropriations Committee. Mudrock said there were also efforts in Congress to ensure workers are paid even during shutdowns.
Mudrock said he had spent years in the union fighting for workers’ rights. Since 2012, when TSA gained the right to collectively bargain, pay has increased and the agency has become a better place to work. Around 2023, Mudrock began encouraging more people to join the agency.
“Right now, I’m a lot more hesitant to recommend that,” he said, referring to the shutdowns.
Mudrock also expressed concern that the White House or Homeland Security officials would push to contract out security services to for-profit companies such as Covenant Aviation Security, which operates at San Francisco International Airport. He said this move would hurt workers’ pay and rights and might undermine security.
“I don’t believe that airline security should be profit-driven,” he said, referring to accounts from San Francisco workers. “Obviously, they are going to cut corners. They’re going to pay people less, if they can get away with it.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Sacramento TSA workers face lingering strain after 75-day shutdown, pay freeze ends."
