Three major airports in the New York City area – Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport – won’t play a video from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that blames the ongoing federal government shutdown on Democrats, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed to the New Jersey Globe.
“The Port Authority’s longstanding policies prevent airing of politically partisan messages at our facilities, so airports are not airing the video on airport-controlled screens,” the Port Authority, a bi-state agency that operates all three airports (as well as the far smaller Teterboro Airport in Bergen County), said in a statement.
The agency is the latest transit authority to decline to play the video, which may run afoul of laws and internal policies regarding political messaging in government communications. According to the Washington Post, airports in Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland (Oregon), and Seattle have also decided not to play the video.
In the 30-second video, Noem tells viewers – those waiting in Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines at the nation’s airports – that airport operations will be impacted by the government shutdown, which she says is only underway because Democrats won’t support a Republican funding bill.
“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay,” Noem says in the video. “We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel, and our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”
The video is the latest piece of unusually political messaging from President Donald Trump’s administration related to the government shutdown. Like Noem’s video, many government agencies’ websites explicitly blame Democrats for the shutdown, which ethics groups have said is a violation of the Hatch Act, a law that limits the political activities of federal employees; one message on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website accused the “Radical Left” of shutting down the government and “inflict[ing] massive pain on the American people.”
Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), who represents the Teterboro Airport in Congress, said that she was “outraged” by the TSA video, which she called a “clear abuse of power.”
“When I visited Teterboro Airport in our district recently, air traffic controllers like other essential aviation workers expressed worry about not being paid because of the GOP shutdown,” Pou said in a statement. “The American people want less focus on abusing powers and more focus on keeping travelers safe.”
And as the shutdown enters its third week – funding ran out on October 1, and Congress has not been able to come to a spending deal in the 14 days since then – airports have become a key focal point in the debate and when and how to end the standoff.
Air traffic controllers and TSA officers are required to work through the shutdown without pay, raising the risk of absences from work that could snarl air travel. During the longest shutdown in national history in late 2018 and early 2019, a ground stop at LaGuardia Airport caused by controller shortages at other airports helped hasten the creation of a deal to end the shutdown.
Last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Newark Airport to address the current shutdown and highlight its potential impacts on air traffic control.
“These are high skilled, high performing, safety driven professionals,” Duffy said at the event. “I don’t want them finding a second job to pay the bills. I want them to get paid for the work they’re doing today, keeping our planes in the air and our sky safe.”
New Jersey Democrats have rejected any blame that the Trump administration has tried to put on their party for the shutdown. Senator Cory Booker rebuffed Duffy last week, saying that the onus for reopening the government and paying air traffic controllers is on Republicans; Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) also made his own air controller-related visit to Newark Airport today.
“Until Republicans and Trump come to the negotiating table, they will own every damaging repercussion for their shutdown at our airports and across the country,” Booker said following Duffy’s visit.
This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. with comment from Pou.