Joel Szabat, former acting undersecretary of transportation, told Newsmax on Friday that he expects conditions at airports to improve as Transportation Security Administration employees begin receiving pay.
As the Department of Homeland Security funding lapse continues, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring that TSA agents be paid.
TSA employees have gone without pay since the lapse began in mid-February.
Szabat cautioned that improvements at airports may not be immediate.
"A lot of these workers have taken second jobs, for cash flow, to make bill payments, and presumably they're on leave to the end of the month to do that," Szabat said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"It could be three days, four days or longer before we see them," he added. "They won't see that first paycheck until the beginning of next week."
Szabat said airports that use private security have generally operated more smoothly during the funding lapse.
He added that differences between private and public security operations reflect policy choices.
"One could come up with a situation where TSA agents were paid regardless of whether the government was shut down or not," Szabat said. "I was caught in Orlando over the weekend, and that was a trouble spot."
"The good news today is the trouble spots seem to be smaller than they were before," Szabat added. "However, we expect more spring break travel over the weekend so we could see another surge of problems."
"But certainly, by the end of next week, we would expect it to get better," he said. "As long as the paychecks get processed and are delivered to the TSA agents."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.