Texas is at center of TSA storm

Texas has found itself at the center of the political storm tied to the partial government shutdown, as the state’s airports are suffering some of the most severe travel disruptions in the country and its senators work to find a solution in Washington.

As the shutdown nears the end of its fifth week, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have gone weeks without pay while the national callout rate has climbed above 11 percent and security wait times have reached historic levels.

The strain has been especially acute in Texas, where William P. Hobby Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston have recorded the highest call-out rates of any airport in the country — at 43 percent and 39.8 percent, respectively, on Tuesday.

Both airports have also reported some of the longest wait times at TSA checkpoints, with officials at Bush Intercontinental warning this week that delays could top four hours, even as lines at other airports have eased on non-peak travel days.

Meanwhile, Texas senators have emerged among the more active lawmakers in Washington pushing to resolve the TSA crisis and respond to mounting constituent concerns.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this past weekend spearheaded a proposal to split the Homeland Security appropriations bill, funding and immediately reopening non-immigration DHS agencies, including TSA, while later using the budget reconciliation process to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“The Democrats have gotten so extreme and unreasonable that I don’t know that they will ever be willing to fund Department of Homeland Security,” Cruz told The Hill on Saturday, addressing the proposal, which ultimately went nowhere.

The junior senator from Texas also asked this week for his salary to be withheld until the shutdown ends, amid growing concern over federal workers missing paychecks.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has sought to address public frustration by sponsoring a bill to end the special treatment that allows members of Congress to bypass TSA screening checkpoints at airports.

The legislation — which the Senate approved by unanimous consent but still requires House passage and the president’s signature — is aimed at increasing pressure on Democrats, whom Cornyn blamed for the partial shutdown.

“The only reason I can fathom, other than being completely out of touch, that our Democrat colleagues would do this is not all members of Congress are being forced to experience the same mess of their own making,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor last week.

Cornyn also delivered Whataburger meals to TSA officers in Austin last week, joining local groups that have provided food and gift cards to workers going weeks without pay.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, referred to Cornyn’s “End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act,” as “sympathy legislation.”

“This is a way for the senators to be able to acknowledge people’s rights and to try to pursue a legislative solution that is in their wheelhouse,” Rottinghaus told The Hill in an interview.

Cornyn, who is up for reelection this year, faces a bitter May runoff against hardline conservative Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). The timing of the contest means the shutdown could still be a live issue for voters as they cast their ballots, giving the four-term incumbent an opening to lean on his record of negotiating bipartisan solutions in Congress.

“John Cornyn wants to present himself as a solutions-first senator, in contrast to Ken Paxton, who’s more partisanship-first,” Rottinghaus said, noting the fast food for TSA workers and his legislative proposal “is an effort for him to try to humanize himself, but also show that he can get things done.”

Rottinghaus noted that Paxton is addressing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), while Cornyn is back in Washington, potentially setting up a politically useful contrast.

“As a messaging story, Cornyn is effective in saying that he was looking for solutions, not willing to play politics at this moment, when Ken Paxton is busy with his kind of partisan crowd,” Rottinghaus added.

Some Texas strategists, however, are skeptical the shutdown will resonate with voters by the time they head to the polls.

“Here in Texas, voters think this is a DC process issue, and they’re really not thinking about it. As long as they can get through TSA, they don’t care,” Texas GOP strategist Vinny Minchillo said, noting he recently traveled through Dallas and had no issues with security lines.

Minchillo said, at the end of the day, it’s unlikely voters will draw a connection from the long TSA lines to whom they plan on supporting on Election Day.

“I think it’s a lot of math to get from TSA to DHS funding to ICE to long lines like this and how that affects me and how I’m going to vote,” he added.

Matt Angle, who founded the pro-Democrat Lone Star Project in the state, agreed the issue may fade by November but said the disruption adds to a broader sense of dysfunction under Republican control.

“I don’t know that that will matter,” Angle said. “But the fact that it does point to just dysfunction and inability to deal with problems.”

“It makes it very, very hard for Republicans to talk themselves away from being responsible. And in the primary, again, John Cornyn looks ineffectual and weak, and that’s his problem anyway,” he added.

Some Republicans see the issue differently, with Minchillo calling the shutdown “a loser for the Democrats,” arguing it distracts from stronger economic arguments heading into the midterms.

“[Democrats] will tilt at any windmill you put in front of them.,” he said. “So while they should all be talking about gas prices and the economy and how much it costs to feed your family, they’re rushing off and talking about TSA lines. “They continue to lose control of the debate and will jump at anything.”

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