By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) – Senate Democrats failed in a bid on Thursday to fund the Transportation Security Administration as Republicans demand lawmakers approve funding for the entire Homeland Security Department.
The Senate later on Thursday is set to take a procedural vote on a Republican proposal to fund all of Homeland Security that is expected to fail like prior attempts, after Republican Senator Bernie Moreno objected to a Democratic proposal to separately fund the TSA.
Absences by TSA airport officers have already disrupted travel at some major airports over the last week, raising the alarm among airlines because of the busy spring break travel season.
Both sides are pointing fingers at each other for the standoff. Democrats said Republicans were taking hostages, while Republicans said Democrats were grandstanding and failing to fund all of DHS.
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 13 after Congress failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms demanded by Democrats.
TSA said more than 300 officers of the 50,000 working at U.S. airports have quit since the shutdown began. TSA workers on Friday will miss their first full paycheck.
Carriers are expecting a record-breaking spring travel period, with 171 million passengers expected to fly, up 4% over the same two-month period last year.
Philadelphia Airport said on Thursday it was closing a terminal checkpoint because of TSA staffing issues. Earlier this week, some airports like Houston Hobby and New Orleans reported security lines exceeding two hours as TSA absences rose.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese, Kirsten Donovan)
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