Transportation Security Administration officers are still “in the hole” even though they received their backpay, according to TSA employees who spoke with ABC News. Airport security officers said they have been told by their managers that they can no longer receive donations related to their TSA positions, even though many are still trying to climb out of debt from late payment fees, creditors and missed bill payments incurred by two record-breaking shutdowns within a few months. Federal employees cannot accept a gift given because of their official position, according to the U. S. government. “A lot of the officers that I represent are saying the money that we received, it went as soon as it came in,” Joseph Cerletti, a TSA worker at Oakland International Airport and union representative for his local chapter, told ABC News on Thursday. Cerletti received all of his backpay, but he said he heard of other officers who did not receive everything they were owed. Addressing reports from some TSA officers about missing portions of their paychecks, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to ABC, “We are working aggressively with USDA’s [United States Department of Agriculture] National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.” According to a government website, the USDA helps to manage payroll for more than 590, 000 federal employees. Cerletti told ABC News about local church that was scheduled to donate a large amount of groceries for TSA officers. “I think each grocery bag equated to about $180, $200 worth of groceries: steaks, chickens,” Cerletti told ABC News on Thursday. “We had arranged a meeting for today with Genesis Church in Antioch and Oakland to transfer the groceries to management so that management could equally disperse the groceries to each officer. Right then, I got a phone call a few days ago saying, ‘Oh, we canceled Thursday’s donation.'” The House of Representatives didn’t take any action on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, during its pro forma session on Thursday. The partial shutdown will continue until at least Monday when the House could take up the Senate’s DHS funding bill during their next pro forma session. Congress is on spring recess until April 13. In a statement sent to ABC News on Monday, DHS acknowledged that there might be slight delays in some receiving their paychecks due to “financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit.” Payments came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum last week asking for DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds “that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to pay the agency’s workforce. “To give an idea of how much money that it is — it would technically be enough money to fund TSA alone for at least a half a decade,” The email reads. “Even though that money exists, it is not certain how long it will be funding TSA.” On Thursday, Trump said that he plans to sign an order soon to pay “all” DHS employees, which include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and CBP, as well as TSA. “I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform. “Help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country.” It is unclear what legal authority Trump issued Friday’s order under, and the White House hasn’t responded to ABC News’ request for comment. TSA employees have been required to work the entire 48 days of the partial shutdown, which began Feb. 14, while members of Congress continue to receive their pay. Federal employees experienced the longest full shutdown in the nation’s history — 43 days — last fall. TSA officers told ABC News that they had depleted their savings after the last shutdown and were not fully recovered when the partial shutdown began in February. Senate Democrats vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement. According to DHS, agent or employee callouts have begun to decrease this week since TSA officers are starting to get paid. Data from the agency shows around 8. 60% of the TSA officers scheduled to work called out Monday, according to DHS — the lowest rate we have seen in recent weeks. Prior to the decline, DHS said the call out rates were over 10%. The highest rate of the shutdown so far was last Friday, with more than 12% of TSA officers calling out. TSA said the callout rate prior to the shutdown was around 2%. ABC News’ Ayesha Ali, Isabella Murray and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
https://abcnews.com/US/tsa-officers-hurting-after-receiving-backpay/story?id=131609300