Billionaire Elon Musk offered on Saturday pay the salaries of security officers at US airports who, despite being essential personnel, work without pay due to a partial budget blockage.
Elon Musk ‘saves’ the unemployed
The suspension of funding has led to longer-than-usual lines at airport security checkpoints, where Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees have been working without pay since mid-February.
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“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA staff during this budget impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country.”Musk wrote on his social network X.
I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country
Since February 14, resources for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been frozen due to the dispute between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over the practices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). DHS is responsible for airport security posts.
Due to this situation, agent absenteeism has increased. It is now common for wait times at security checkpoints to be several hours.
Due to this partial closure, thousands of federal DHS officials are on technical unemployment, while many others, whose functions are considered essential, continue to work. In both cases, they do not receive salaries.
The nearly 65,000 TSA employees have not received their full salaries since March 13.
According to various estimates, the annual salary of these agents ranges between $50,000 and $60,000, which adds up to a budget of about $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion per year.
Musk’s wealth is about $839 billion, according to the most recent ranking by Forbes magazine published on March 10.
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