Elon Musk wants to save American airports. Billionaire offers to pay security guard salaries during budget impasse
Multibillionaire Elon Musk announced Saturday that he is willing to pay the salaries of U.S. airport security officers who are working without pay because of a partial budget shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.
Elon Musk wants to save American airports PHOTO: Shutterstock
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of (Transportation Security Agency) TSA employees during the budget impasse that is negatively impacting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country,” Musk posted on the X network, which he owns.
Budget paralysis affects DHS and ICE
Since February 14, funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been blocked due to disputes between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over the practices of the immigration police (ICE). As a result, thousands of federal employees have been placed on furlough, while other essential employees continue to work without pay.
For TSA agents, directly affected, the situation has become critical: approximately 50,000 people no longer receive their full salary since March 13. The average annual salary of an agent is estimated to be between $50,000 and $60,000, which translates to between $2.5 and $3 billion per year.
The queues at the airport are getting longer
Due to the lack of payment, some agents choose to temporarily leave for other jobs and others have already resigned, leading to increased absenteeism. This has caused significant delays at US airports, where passengers often wait several hours to get through security and into the boarding hall.
Elon Musk is considered the richest person on the planet, with an estimated fortune of $839 billion, according to the March 10 Forbes ranking, up from $342 billion the previous year. “My net worth is almost entirely due to holdings in Tesla and SpaceX,” Musk stated on X, adding that “less than 0.1% of this is in the form of cash“.
