Sacramento International Airport warns travelers of wait times during partial government shutdown

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) issued a warning to travelers about longer wait times for security lines during a partial government shutdown.

Because of that shutdown, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are working without pay again. Hours-long delays are slowing travel at airports nationwide.

"Absentees are up. A lot of times, people just find it impossible to get here. They don't have anyone to take care of their kids. They don't have gas money to put in their cars," said James Mudrock, the vice president for the Northern California American Federation of Government Employees, local 1260.

As a union representative, he said one agent in Sacramento has had to quit—a decision they didn't want to make.

TSA employees have missed a full paycheck, received a partial payment on the last one, and expect to miss the next one because there's no clear end in sight to the shutdown.

"We have a great group of officers here. They're very dedicated to their mission. They really care about what they're doing. That just makes it even worse for the way they're being treated," Mudrock said. "My ask is that I know there's been legislation out there proposed that would separate TSA payment funding from the rest of the homeland security bill. Please get that through. Get our people money so they can do their jobs without the stress and heartache they're going through."

While operations have mostly been running smoothly at SMF, airport officials recommend allowing plenty of time to get through security while the shutdown remains ongoing.

"Last time we went before the government shutdown, it took us 10 or 15 minutes, but this time, it took us over an hour," said Charlynne Gonzales, who was talking about flying out of LaGuardia Airport.

Gonzales and others said landing in Sacramento was much different.

"They were a lot better here than over there. New York was bad. We also had a layover in Chicago, and I feel like that was even worse than New York," said Naya Vazquez, also traveling from New York.