Some major airports across the U.S. are refusing to play a video featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the government shutdown that has prompted significant flight delays.
Those airports are in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., and Cleveland, Ohio, according to reports. Three airports in New York are also reportedly refusing to play the video.
"Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government and, because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay," Noem said in the 37-second video obtained by Fox News.
The two northwest airports, Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) and Portland, told local FOX 13 Seattle their reasons for not playing the video.
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Staff at Sea-Tac told the TV station that they support bipartisan efforts to end the shutdown and that they are working to support unpaid employees.
Portland airport staff released a statement obtained by FOX 13 saying they did not consent to airing the video because they believe it violates the Hatch Act and Oregon state law, which both prohibit government employees from engaging in partisan political activities.
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Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers must still turn up for work during the government shutdown, but they are not being paid, Reuters reported.
They are set to get a partial paycheck this week for work done before the shutdown began.
Republican and Democratic leaders both blame the other side for the shutdown, which started Oct. 1 after Congress failed to approve new spending legislation.
"Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans, and the clearer it becomes who’s fighting for them," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
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In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities then were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.
Reuters contributed to this report.
