President Donald Trump signed a memo Friday afternoon to pay Transportation Security Administration employees as soon as Monday.
The memo comes after the U.S. Senate passed a bill to fund the majority of the Department of Homeland Security, minus Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol.
But, NPR reports the House rejected the plan and will instead vote on a stop-gap spending bill to fund the entire DHS until May 22.
TSA officials have not been paid since Feb. 14 after a political gridlock over immigration oversight and budgetary disputes partially shut down the government.
The shutdown increased security lines at many U.S. airports but SLC spokesperson Nancy Volmer says the Beehive State hadn’t felt the effects until Friday.
“We did have some longer wait times, and that's because we are heading into a busier time here with the spring break, and so we have a lot of people who were actually coming early to the airport, which we always encourage, but it was creating some longer lines,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” March 27.
Volmer says the longest TSA wait time the airport experienced was about an hour. Other security line
s across the country exceeded four hours at times as TSA agents quit or called out with no pay.
In late March, Trump deployed ICE agents to major U.S. airports to help with TSA staffing shortages. Volmer said she was not aware of any ICE agents at the Salt Lake airport.
To help TSA workers during the shutdown, the airport has organized a food pantry on the third level behind the Southwest ticket counters.
“We have asked the public and passengers to help donate to that food pantry. For people who are not flying out of Salt Lake City, we have a blue bin out at the park-and-wait lot, which is the gas station as you come into the airport, and any non-perishable items can be dropped off there,” she said.
Volmer says there is also a bin at the visitor information desk in the airport terminal.
Roughly 30,000 travelers are expected to visit the Salt Lake City airport during spring break. Volmer advises travelers to check the live security screening times online and to arrive early.
