Transportation Security Administration officials have tried to downplay the impact of airport security screening officers calling out sick during the government shutdown, but this one will be hard to wave off: Miami International Airport will be closing a terminal early for three days.

According to an airport official, “Due to an increased number of TSA screeners not reporting to work, we have decided to take this precautionary step and relocate about 12 flights to adjoining concourses in the afternoons.” Twice as many TSA screeners are calling out sick as usual at Miami, forcing this drastic move.

It’s another reminder of what it means when 800,000 people don’t get paid. If they go to work, “essential” employees like TSA screeners face costs for commuting and child care. If they stay home, they don’t have to pay their childcare providers … who then lose income as a more-or-less direct result of the shutdown. Just as the people who work in the shops and restaurants of the Miami terminal will presumably lose income when it closes early on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

In the case of TSA screeners, the economic pressure pushing them to call out sick will also affect travelers who may face longer lines at Miami in the coming days, just as passengers at New York’s LaGuardia did last weekend. And airport screening isn’t the only part of flying that’s taken a hit during the shutdown. Airline pilots have warned about the lack of FAA safety inspectors; flight attendants and air traffic controllers have warned about stresses on the air traffic control system; and industry groups summed it all up in a letter saying that “This partial shutdown has already inflicted real damage to our nation’s aviation system and the impacts will only worsen over time.”

This blog was originally published at DailyKos on January 11, 2019. Reprinted with permission. 

About the Author: Laura Clawson is labor editor at DailyKos.