NIKOLE KILLION:
00:01:27
Starting us off tonight in Houston is Nicole Scanga, who has watched as thousands have stood in extremely long lines. Nicole, set the scene for us. Yeah, Nikole, not only have we watched but we, ourselves, have stood in lines this morning. We stood in a line for three hours in Terminal A. We're in Terminal E now. We're going to pan the camera so you can see, in addition to the three levels of security here, it is both inside and also outside of this terminal here. And these travelers behind me say they've been waiting in line for approximately two hours. They've got a little ways to go here, and it has been another busy, crazy day at IIH, with travelers calling this frustrating, annoying, even dangerous, as the line begins in the basement subway corridor that has limited AC and access to water, food, and cell service. Folks on line down there rebooking their flights frantically. Now, as for who passengers say is to blame, no one I've spoken with of the travelers here say it's the TSA workers' fault. In fact, many place the blame squarely on Capitol Hill. Take a listen to Anthony McDonald. I met him on line today. He was traveling with his infant daughter. Here's what he had to say. What's your message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill who need to strike a deal in order to pay TSA workers? Come out here and get in line. Come on out here and get in line, Capitol. We love you guys. Like she said earlier, we're just ordinary. It's real. But I would tell them that, honestly, I would say, let's get a move on it. Let's pick it up so we can do better. Our people need-- we need you guys. And, Nikole, a lot of frustration that while TSA workers go without pay, members of Congress are getting paid. Yeah, and they're also starting to lose some of their privileges in terms of getting through the airport. But that gentleman you spoke to also sounds like he wants a record deal. But meantime, what role is ICE having there and at other airports across the country? Yeah, trying to keep spirits up there. And, in fact, ICE personnel also handing out water bottles today, offering some direction and words of encouragement, along with the airport staff that is out in full force. In fact, we talked to some of the airport members that usually sit behind desks, but they're out wearing neon shirts today, sort of directing traffic. As for what ICE personnel have been assigned to do, they cannot replace a TSA officer one to one, and that's some of the concern here, right? TSA officers, there are over 3,200 who called out sick today, over 450 who have quit during this last shutdown alone. Takes a lot of training to become a TSA officer, four to six months for every officer. So the concern that as these shutdowns continue-- and we've seen three in just about six months-- more and more TSA personnel will hang up the towel, will say they don't want another government shutdown, and we're going to be facing a serious challenge here at our airports. All right, Nicole Sganga, you hang in there. And obviously those passengers there, like you said, trying to keep their spirits up and the TSA officers for that part too. We thank you so much for your reporting tonight. Thank you. And we turn now to Taurean Small, who joins us now from Capitol Hill. Taurean, how is this new offer to split off some of ICE funding from the broader DHS budget going over with lawmakers? Well, Nikole, Senator Blumenthal mentioned something that I think is quite poignant. He said he never uses the word optimistic when it comes to Capitol Hill because we've seen, just from this morning to this afternoon, a really big shift in where opinions stood. At the start of the day, we were talking to lawmakers who were quite happy or optimistic about where things were going with negotiations, saying they believed a deal came out of the White House that would be pretty much appetizing to folks across the aisle. Once Democrats saw the language of that proposal from Republicans is where we got this disagreement. We heard from Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, today during a press conference. He said that this deal, as it stands, just isn't quite meeting the moment. He said that it didn't address the chief concerns they had about immigration reforms. And Senator Kaine actually broke that down for us. So the two main components of ICE are HSI, which is Homeland Security Investigation, and then ERO, which is essentially operations. And this would fund HSI while not funding ERO. That second part would essentially go through the budget reconciliation process. I asked Leader Thune about whether or not reforms would still be a part of the conversation if this deal did go through and they would pursue reconciliation on their own. This is what he had to say. Well, I mean, I think that's going to be up to them. The reform-- honestly, this has all been about reforms that they said they wanted, and we have repeatedly showed up. They have repeatedly backed away, including over this last weekend. And it became very clear to us that they really weren't interested in reforms. It appears leverage is at the heart of these negotiations. With a few days left before recess, it appears both sides are really looking to needle the other side into seemingly giving up concessions or giving into concessions before they ultimately decide on voting on a package. But we'll still be watching some of those moderate Democrats who voted to end the previous government shutdown to see if their opinions have changed at all in the past couple of hours, Nikole.
NIKOLE KILLION:
00:07:34
And then real quick, Taurean, I just want to ask you-- obviously, I know Leader Thune-- and he had mentioned that earlier to me as well today about the reforms, and he felt that Democrats were stalling here. Obviously, Democrats say that they plan to respond to Republicans' offer. Any sense of what Democrats are seeking? Well, they're maintaining that they want to remove ICE completely, not just one component of it, from this funding bill. I also would note that CBP was also a part of their demands. They didn't want to fund CBP either, just every other agency on the department except for those two. I haven't heard lately if they have moved where they stood on CBP, but this is included in this funding package under the Republican proposal. As it stands, though, even if this goes out of the Senate, this will have to go to the House for its approval. We heard from Speaker Mike Johnson, who said that he was unhappy with the idea of separating this bill. He said he and his conference is prepared to vote fully on this DHS spending bill but not necessarily separated. So we'll see if that changes if it makes it to them as it stands right now in this Republican proposal. All right, Taurean Small reporting from Capitol Hill. Thank you so much.
