Politicians should be required to obey every law they pass. If they were not exempt from the laws that they pass, politicians would also not get paid — which likely would mean that agents of the Transportation Security Administration and air traffic controllers would continue to be getting paid and the current partial shutdown of the federal government of the United States might have concluded a long time ago.
Politicians Should Be Required to Obey Every Law They Pass…
Once again, members of the Democratic Party in the Senate have blocked a procedural vote on a bill that was passed by members of the House of Representatives to fund the Department of Homeland Security of the United States through September 2026 so that approximately 90 percent of employees of that department would not not forced to report to work without getting paid a single cent…
…but because the vote of 54-46 falls short of the required 60 votes that are needed to pass the bill, the partial shutdown of the federal government will continue until further notice — and agents of the Transportation Security Administration will continue to not get paid despite the fact that $4,535,253,000.00 in fees were collected in 2025, which is the most fees that have been collected in one fiscal year since the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration of the United States in 2001. “Despite the current partial shutdown of the federal government, every passenger still pays the September 11 Security Fee whenever he or she travels by airplane — so why is that money not being used to pay the agents as they work?” is what I asked in this article that was recently published at The Gate With Brian Cohen.
As a result of not getting paid, almost 500 agents of the Transportation Security Administration have quit their jobs since the middle of February of 2026 and hundreds more have called in “sick”, which has led to lines that are so long at security checkpoints at airports, passengers have been reported to have waited as long as six hours to get through them — only to miss their flights anyway.
Reports from multiple sources claim that the investigation of a crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Sunday, March 22, 2026 was delayed because investigators were forced to wait in those aforementioned long lines at the security checkpoint just trying to get through to the scene of the incident.
All of this has resulted in officers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States — who are more commonly known as ICE — being deployed at major airports around the country effective as of Monday, March 23, 2026 to assist agents of the Transportation Security Administration in screening passengers…
…while Republicans continue to blame Democrats for prioritizing immigration issues over workers; and Democrats accuse Republicans of rejecting safeguards like body cameras for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and separate funding bills for agencies like the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
If all of this is not bad enough, members of the Senate are scheduled to start a recess of as long as two weeks at the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, March 27, 2026 for the Passover and Easter holidays while many employees of the federal government continue to not have been paid in weeks despite being required to work full time.
In news that just broke moments ago on Thursday March 26, 2026, Donald J. Trump — who is the current president of the United States — announced that he will sign an executive order to “immediately” pay agents of the Transportation Security Administration during the ongoing shutdown that has impacted the Department of Homeland Security of the United States.
Airlines are Getting Involved — Somewhat
“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” according to a statement that was released from Delta Air Lines. “Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.” However, the special Capital Desk reservations line will remain open.
Meanwhile, the chief executive officers of nine airlines in the United States joined Christopher T. Sununu — who is the current chief executive officer and president of Airlines for America, which is a trade group that represents the commercial aviation industry in the United States — in signing an open letter to members of the House of Representatives of the United States to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
“Then they need to act so this problem never happens again. Specifically, Congress should pass the Aviation Funding Solvency Act and the Aviation Funding Stability Act, which would guarantee air traffic controllers are paid regardless of the government’s funding status, as well as the Keep America Flying Act, which would provide the same protections to TSA officers who are tasked every day with keeping Americans secure in the skies”, according to the aforementioned open letter. “TSA officers just received $0 paychecks. That is simply unacceptable. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid.”
Final Boarding Call
So do I understand this correctly: politicians can get paid when not working; but employees of the federal government cannot get paid while they are required to work full time?
This all sounds like a bizarre dystopian science fiction movie; and it is simply beyond outrageous and inexcusable. What has happened to the United States of America?
Frankly, if I had it my way, I would abolish both the Republican Party and Democratic Party and have every single politician — including members of the House of Representatives, members of the Senate, and even the president of the United States — all immediately removed from office and replaced with qualified and experienced people who genuinely believe in serving their constituents in the best way possible while simultaneously helping to improve the United States towards a stronger and better future…
…but that is just wishful thinking. As long as politicians are permitted to be selfish and corrupt while being rewarded with special benefits and salaries that are at least six figures, this ridiculousness is guaranteed to continue with no end in sight.
Politicians should not have a smug attitude of “do as I say, not as I do” and engage in destructively puerile behavior. They should be forced to obey and abide by the laws that they enact and pass, as creating laws that do not affect themselves is quite easy to do. For example, whenever the federal government is shut down, none of them should be paid a single cent until it reopens. They should not have special treatment and privileges to go through security checkpoints at airports with ease while their constituents wait hours in long lines. They should not enjoy special health care advantages when their constituents are forced to pay double, triple, or quadruple the rates that they were paying last year…
…but I am digressing from how politics affects travel at this point, as I am once again engaged in wishful thinking.
If politicians were not exempt from most of the laws that they pass, things would be substantially different. I personally believe that the federal government of the United States would not currently be shut down if politicians were not getting paid; and that the situation at security checkpoints at airports around the country would be operating as normal instead of in chaos.
Not all that long ago, politicians were discreet about how they lie to their constituents and cheat the system. Today, they seem to almost be proud about bluntly lying and cheating constantly — especially as they rarely pay any consequences for doing so…
…and whether or not you like it, politics impact travel — usually in an adverse way. I do not like it at all — but here we are. As travelers, we are all significantly affected by politics every single day.
This absurd nonsense must end if we want to be serious as a country about competing globally, as it is reaching a breaking point and cannot be continued or sustained much longer…
…but what exactly is the answer?
All photographs ©2015, ©2023, and ©2026 by Brian Cohen.
