Napolitano: Sequester Already Causing Airport Delays

Although they won’t impact domestic travel until April 1, sweeping budget cuts across the federal government already are causing bottlenecks at U.S. airports, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said Monday that customs lines at some international airports are already “150 to 200 percent as long as we would normally expect” as a result of sequestration.

“We are already seeing the effects of the ports of entry, the big airports for example. Some of them had very long lines this weekend,” Napolitano said, according to political news website POLITICO.

In response to accusations about fear mongering, Napolitano added: “Look people, I don’t mean to scare, I mean to inform. If you’re traveling, get to the airport earlier than you otherwise would. There’s only so much we can do with personnel and please don't yell at the customs officers ... They aren’t responsible for sequester.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) echoed Napolitano’s diagnosis. “Effects are already visible,” CBP told POLITICO. “Lanes that would have previously been open due to overtime staffing were closed, further exacerbating wait times at airports with typically longer international arrival processes. In the coming weeks we will see additional impacts as the CBP hiring freeze and furloughs take place.”

Napolitano and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said domestic travelers have not yet been impacted, and won't be until TSA furloughs begin next month. Despite Napolitano’s report, the TSA said travelers have not yet been impacted. And officials at the domestic airports cited in her statement are denying that there are long delays.

“Travelers will likely not see immediate impacts at airport security checkpoints … but lines and wait times will increase as reductions to overtime and the inability to backfill positions for attrition occur,” a TSA spokesman said in a statement, according to POLITICO.