Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before Congress on Wednesday amid the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown. “Acting TSA Administrator Ms. Ha Nguyen McNeill testifies before Congress that TSA is currently suffering the longest wait times in agency history, with callout rates hitting 40-50% at some airports and more than 480 employees quitting since the shutdown began. McNeil testifies that TSA has been shut down for half of fiscal year 2026, and $1 billion in TSA paychecks will be missed if the shutdown isn’t ended by Friday,” Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin wrote. “She testified that to make ends meet, TSA officers have been selling blood and plasma and sleeping in their cars. Some have received eviction notices, missed bill payments and accrued late fees, damaged their credit, and have defaulted on loans, but are ‘still expected to perform at the highest level,'” he continued. BREAKING: Acting TSA Administrator Ms. Ha Nguyen McNeill testifies before Congress that TSA is currently suffering the longest wait times in agency history, with callout rates hitting 40-50% at some airports and more than 480 employees quitting since the shutdown began. McNeil… — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 25, 2026 NBC News shared further: Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., called Democratic lawmakers’ actions regarding the Department of Homeland Security shutdown “reckless, dangerous and unacceptable” in his opening statement at a hearing with senior DHS officials. Garbarino accused Democrats of choosing to shut down the department “and weaken our national security posture for their own political gain.” Democrats had rejected bids to fund the entire department, insisting on reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meanwhile, Republicans have rejected Democrats’ efforts to fund the Transportation Security Administration. NBC News reported yesterday that Senate Republicans are hopeful about a potential path forward to reopen the department, which would involve funding most of DHS, except for certain ICE operations, which they would try to pass through a special budgetary process without needing Democratic support. “Recent developments in the Senate are showing some potential momentum towards hopefully ending this harmful shutdown soon,” Garbarino said. “If a deal is proposed, we look forward to reviewing it quickly. But the fact is that DHS is still shut down today, and we should never have been in the position in the first place.” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., cast blame on Republicans for the shutdown, also arguing that “they are complicit in causing irreparable damage over the 15 months to DHS, its mission and its workforce.” Thompson, the top Democrat on the committee, emphasized that lawmakers in his party “want to fund TSA, FEMA, CISA and the Coast Guard, and have repeatedly offered bill to do just that,” which Republicans rejected. FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and CISA is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Watch McNeill’s statement below: BREAKING: TSA officers are being forced to sleep in their cars, sell their blood and plasma, and take on second jobs as they deal with the financial fallout of the ongoing DHS shutdown. "Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars… pic.twitter.com/77f6QKHyDR — Fox News (@FoxNews) March 25, 2026 The hearing follows the Trump administration sending ICE agents to over a dozen airports across the country. Here Are The Airports Where ICE Agents Will Help TSA CNN noted: Meanwhile, in the airports, hours long lines have wrapped around terminals as travelers wait to get into fewer lanes managed by fewer TSA officers. Some checkpoints have been closed, and the agency has even warned screening could be stopped at some small airports, effectively shutting them down. “In the past, wait times, excessive wait times, have put pressure on Congress to find a deal. But Congress should be so lucky that it’s just wait times that pressures them to a deal, and not something worse happening, like a security lapse,” said Erik Hansen, senior vice president and head of government relations for the US Travel Association. In some respects, the long lines are a sign officers are trying to maintain standards. Passengers can’t simply be sped through the lines faster. “We need not only to be vigilant, but extra vigilant,” Pistole said. Yet, he worries the massive lines created when the reduced number of screeners follow the essential rules could create additional vulnerabilities. Watch additional coverage below: