Transportation Security Administration officers are bracing for another $0 paycheck to hit their bank accounts on Friday, possibly leading to even more sick callouts and longer lines at airports.

Unless Congress quickly reaches a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, it will mark the third paycheck that airport security screeners have missed due to the government shutdown, including a partial check from late February.

Joe Shuker, a union representative for TSA employees in several states, said workers were growing increasingly desperate and unable to afford basic staples like food and gas.

“Things won’t improve until you pay people,” Shuker told HuffPost, citing the horrendous security lines seen at several major airports this week.

“Things won’t improve until you pay people.”

Congress has been unable to reach a funding deal for DHS as Republicans resist Democrats’ demands to rein in the president’s immigration crackdown. The partial shutdown has now stretched into its 40th day, forcing workers at TSA, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other DHS offices to go without pay.

Officers within Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the DHS sub-agency that’s the focus of the funding dispute — continue to be paid thanks to the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This week, the Trump administration dispatched many ICE officers to airports, supposedly to help alleviate the long lines. The officers have not been enlisted in screening bags, which they aren’t trained to do, and photos and videos from travelers show a lot of them standing around.

Johnny Jones, a Texas-based TSA officer and union official, said he was concerned about workers going into a new month unable to pay their rent or make their car payments. He warned that a lot of officers would be hit with late fees, putting them in an even deeper financial hole. Though TSA workers received a partial paycheck in late February, the amounts tended to be small due to regularly scheduled deductions.

“Every day you have a charge to hit your account,” Jones said on a Tuesday call hosted by the TSA union, the American Federation of Government Employees. “They’re over their heads in debt. Most employees live paycheck to paycheck, so they’ve missed these paychecks for the last month and a half.”

He added, “This is unsustainable.”

TSA employs nearly 50,000 security officers, many of whom only earn around $45,000 a year and have little in the way of savings. Some airports have been soliciting donations from travelers in the form of grocery and fuel gift cards to help workers get by until Congress reaches a deal.

Officers are also worried about the long-term effects of the shutdown, as resignations spike and the job becomes less attractive to new recruits. DHS has said that at least 450 TSA workers have quit and absenteeism has soared since the shutdown began.

“The people that are leaving the agency are those people the agency just spent $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 training,” Jones said. “They decided to leave because their finances aren’t prepared for, nor are they personally prepared for it. There’s a psychological [impact from] going to work and not being paid on time.”

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