Homeland Security says airport fast-track services may be suspended amid partial shutdown

The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that it was suspending its fast-track airport security services, TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, because of the shutdown of the department.

The suspension was supposed to take effect at 6 a.m. Sunday, but the Transportation Security Administration announced that PreCheck lines remained operational with no immediate change for the traveling public.

“As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the agency posted on social media.

The Washington Times has contacted DHS and Customs and Border Protection, which operates the Global Entry program, to confirm its current status.

The suspension of airport fast-track services was one of several “emergency measures” DHS said it was taking after a full week of the shutdown to “preserve limited funds and personnel.” The department is also halting all non-disaster-related Federal Emergency Management Agency response efforts and suspending courtesy police escorts for members of Congress traveling through airports.

Democrats are blocking a DHS spending bill in an effort to leverage new restrictions on President Trump’s deportation force following the outrage of two U.S. citizens killed in Minneapolis.

“This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “Shutdowns have real world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security. The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians.”

FEMA is scaling back its operations to focus on bare-minimum, life-saving efforts for new or recent disasters, which Ms. Noem said is especially important given the winter storm forecast to hit the mid-Atlantic and northeast region.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer noted that DHS did not suspend the Global Entry program during the 43-day shutdown last year, saying the agency is now making choices based on politics. 

“Everyone knows Donald Trump and DHS use bullying tactics — this is another one of them,” the New York Democrat said. “The Trump administration is choosing to inflict pain on the public instead of adopting common sense ICE reforms.”