Elon Musk offers to pay TSA agents' salaries during shutdown

Elon Musk said he would like to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration agents who have gone unpaid during the partial government shutdown, as many agents have stopped showing up for shifts and passengers face hourslong security lines at airports across the country.

"I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country," Musk wrote in an X post. The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which remains unfunded while Congress debates the agency's immigration enforcement policies; the partial shutdown began on January 30 and TSA agents received their first $0 paycheck on March 13.

The Department of Homeland Security said as many as 10% of TSA agents skipped work on several days this week, with absence rates averaging 20% at some airports. A TSA agent's salary typically starts at about $40,000 annually, and the DHS employs about 50,000 agents.

United States

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