Closing some US airports due to TSA staffing would have big consequences, experts say

Problems at U.S. airports could worsen beyond hours-long security lines and missed flights if Congress does not agree on a way to pay Transportation Security Administration officers. Federal officials have warned that staffing shortages may close some smaller airports to passengers and commercial flights.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the TSA’s acting leaders said they expected more airport screeners to quit or call out of work after Friday, when TSA personnel were set to miss their second full paychecks since mid-February.

Johnny Jones, the leader of the labor union that represents TSA officers, said Thursday that the agency created a list of about 75 airports that could be closed to free up officers to send to major hubs with long security wait times. Jones suggested that could mean that flights at decent-sized airports surrounding large hubs could be grounded if the security officers are reassigned. Previously most of the speculation had focused on tiny airports with only a few officers operating a single checkpoint.

Jones said he hasn't seen the list, and the airports on it haven't been made public.

But President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will sign an emergency order to pay TSA officers as Congress struggles to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The officers have been required to work without pay since funding for DHS, which the TSA falls under, lapsed on Feb. 14. If Trump succeeds in finding a way to pay them, that may bring an end to the recent extreme security delays at airports.

“This level of disruption is unprecedented,” Ha Nguyen McNeill, the agency’s acting administrator, said of the financial strain on TSA workers leading to high absentee rates. “We are being forced to consolidate lanes, and may have to close smaller airports if we do not have enough officers.”

McNeill, who spoke during a House committee hearing on Wednesday, did not specify at what point closures might occur. She said the TSA officer staffing shortages were “a fluid, challenging and unpredictable situation.”

“The agency has to look at it as, ‘Wow man, at the end of the day, we still have to do essential work and protect the American people.’ It becomes very difficult to do when you have this going on,” said Jones, the secretary and treasurer for Council 100 of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Jones added that officers who fear they could be reassigned are worrying about how they would adjust. It could mean spending more money on longer commutes, or temporarily upending their lives to stay in a faraway city.

About 11% of officers nationwide missed scheduled shifts this week, but at some airports, the share has topped 40% on some days, according to DHS. Passengers standing in massive security lines have filled terminal lobbies and stretched out the door at times in Houston, New Orleans and Atlanta.

Here are some things to know about the DHS funding lapse’s impact on air travel and the questions that remain:

With few confirmed details, it’s hard to say. But officials have suggested that the possibility of closing airports will become more likely the longer TSA workers go without pay.

Aviation security expert Sheldon Jacobson, whose research contributed to the design of TSA PreCheck, said that Trump administration officials appear to be floating the possibility of closed airports in an effort to pressure Congress to reach an agreement on funding DHS.

“This is a situation that, once again, the politicians are trying to move the needle to get people to compromise by making threats. Are these threats realistic? Yes. Are they a good idea? No,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson and other aviation experts said the messaging also suggests that sending federal immigration officers to help out at airports with security staffing problems hasn’t been a successful solution.

The White House has said ICE officers helped reduce lines by monitoring crowds and checking IDs. TSA union leaders and other critics have called the move ineffective, arguing that immigration officers don’t have the required expertise and experience.

Larger airports with hundreds of officers can close some of their checkpoints and even their TSA PreCheck lanes and continue operating. The smallest of the 440 U.S. airports with security screeners don’t have that option.

Smaller airports that only have a single checkpoint might have to shut down temporarily if they can’t get enough officers to operate them. That could happen if a number of their officers don’t report for any given shift.

Small airports have “a smaller pool of people that you can draw from to keep the airport open,” explained Eric Chaffee, a Case Western Reserve law professor who studies risk management, including in the aviation industry. Larger airports, by contrast, are often “much better able to absorb a handful of people calling out.”

The closing of these airports would likely be “uneven,” Chaffee said — potentially affecting facilities ranging from airports with just a few gates to small regional hubs. But, he warned, that any temporary closure of small airports could cascade through the broader air traffic network because it is a “highly interconnected web.”

Experts stressed there would be consequences for the aviation system as a whole.

“Every airport, no matter its size, has some impact to the National Airspace System,” said airport security expert Jeff Price.

Jacobson, who is a professor at the University of Illinois, said airlines rely on passengers from small airports to fill out their flights at major hubs.

Others point to ripple effects for the communities smaller airports serve.

“Despite the fact that we’re talking about small regional airports, this is a big deal,” Chaffee said, pointing to disruptions for both businesses and travelers. “Ultimately, if this does occur, having to drive a half hour to an airport is a lot different than having to drive three hours to an airport.”

If flights stop operating at some smaller airports, it could hit nearby communities and their economies hard, especially businesses operating in hospitality and tourism. It could also jeopardize airport workers' jobs, such as janitors and employees of restaurants and shops that serve travelers.

Meanwhile, financial strains would continue to pile up for TSA officers going without pay.

With there being a slew of potential economic repercussions from air travel disruptions, Jacobson said “We are playing with fire right now when we are threatening such a large contributor to our GDP.”

AP Airlines and Travel Writer Rio Yamat contributed to this story.

An ICE officer works at a TSA checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport in Imperial, Pa., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Passengers stand in the TSA pre check in line at LaGuardia Airport, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in East Elmhurst, N.Y. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Passengers are screened by a TSA agent at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

A TSA worker checks passengers at Greater Pittsburgh International Airport in Imperial, Pa., Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A TSA agent checks a passenger's ticket and boarding pass at Ohare Airport in Chicago, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee held a rare public hearing Thursday into alleged ethics violations committed by Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, pushing into the open a yearslong investigation into how she funded her political rise.

The third-term congresswoman is facing numerous ethics charges, including failing to follow campaign finance laws, commingling campaign, personal and business funds and using her position to benefit allies. She is also facing federal charges for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds.

Over two years of work, committee investigators say they collected “a mountain of evidence” that Cherfilus-McCormick committed the deeds alleged in the federal indictment. She denies any wrongdoing, and her attorney criticized the House hearing as unfair.

The hearing could carry significant political repercussions because some Republican lawmakers are threatening a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick from the House. Both parties are vying for the ethical high ground before the November elections.

Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents a heavily Democratic district in southeastern Florida, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and last year called it “an unjust, baseless, sham indictment.” She argued to have the committee postpone its hearing until after the conclusion of the criminal trial or to hold the proceedings in private, but the subcommittee examining the allegations denied those requests.

Thursday's hearing gave House investigators an opportunity to lay out their findings and make a motion for the panel of lawmakers to adopt their conclusion that Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 ethics violations. The full committee could then later recommend a punishment.

Sydney Bellwoar, senior counsel for the House Ethics Committee, told the panel that investigators found “a mountain of evidence” that showed Cherfilus-McCormick violated laws, ethical standards and rules for House members.

Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer, William R. Barzee, appealed, asking the subcommittee to reconsider its earlier decision to proceed with the public hearing. Barzee told the committee that if she wants to preserve her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the upcoming federal trial, “she must remain silent before the committee.”

Cherfilus-McCormick did not address the panel throughout the proceedings, but took notes and occasionally whispered to her attorney.

Barzee also argued to the panel on Thursday that the House hearing could influence potential jurors in the criminal trial and that the concurrent proceedings have prevented her from cooperating with the ethics committee's investigation.

“She is not guilty of these allegations. She is absolutely innocent,” Barzee said, adding, “But she is in between a rock and a hard place right now.”

After meeting for roughly an hour in private, the panel denied Cherfilus-McCormick’s request to postpone the proceedings.

Still, Barzee called it a “travesty of justice” for the committee to proceed with the hearing without allowing him to cross-examine witnesses and submit competing evidence to refute the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick.

“At least give her a fair shake and let me cross-examine some witnesses. Let me put some witnesses on the stand to defend her and to tell you what happened,” he said.

Committee investigators have laid out their findings in a 242-page report that concludes Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 counts of ethics violations.

The report alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick first won a special election in 2022 with a campaign that presented itself as self-financed. But in reality, the campaign was substantially funded through a $5 million overpayment for COVID-19 vaccination services that her family's company had received from the state of Florida, according to investigators.

Barzee said that, regardless of the overpayment, Cherfilus-McCormick was entitled to profits from the business. “There was nothing nefarious or improper about that,” he said.

He added that the congresswoman was not necessarily responsible for repaying the money, but that her family’s company was.

But investigators laid out an argument that funds were channeled into Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign through a number of business entities that were connected to the congresswoman and her siblings. Bank records also showed a pattern of transferring funds into her campaign accounts shortly before filing deadlines, only to transfer the money out after the deadline. This misled voters about the strength of her campaign, investigators argued.

The investigation also found evidence that the congresswoman then funded her reelection campaign largely through outside groups run by her friends and family, including a company that was mostly funded by the Haitian government.

Investigators allege that she continued to commit ethics violations in office, including using her position to benefit allies with special favors during the appropriations process and disregarding restrictions on volunteer work by her senior campaign adviser.

House ethics officials said the committee, which has been considering the matter since 2023, met a dozen times as part of the investigation, reviewed more than 33,000 documents and issued dozens of subpoenas.

In February, the Florida Democrat pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal counts, including theft of government funds, making and receiving straw donor contributions and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.

Prosecutors accuse her of conspiring to steal $5 million in federal disaster funds mistakenly overpaid to the health care company owned by her family through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. Within two months of receiving the money, prosecutors allege, more than $100,000 had been spent to buy the congresswoman a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, the former chief of staff and accountant, was also charged in the alleged scheme.

She has said she doesn't plan to resign and is running for reelection.

Republicans are moving to do just that, although it would require a significant number of Democrats to join them. It takes a two-thirds vote to expel a member from the House.

Democratic leaders have so far declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick. California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the third-ranked Democrat in House leadership, said this week that he would not “prejudge” the allegations against her.

“Let’s see what happens in the Ethics Committee,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.

But Thursday's hearing was a rare occurrence that underscored the gravity of the allegations. It has been more than 15 years since a sitting member of the House faced a public hearing, dating to the 2010 ethics trial of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., on charges related to his personal finances. The panel also held a hearing that year on allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., but found insufficient evidence to prove them.

The last member of Congress to be expelled was Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2023. Santos had not yet been convicted of federal charges, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against it at the time, expressing concern about setting a precedent of expelling members based on untried allegations.

Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

FILE - Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., listens during a rally on Jan. 28, 2026, in support of the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants before it expires in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)