Passengers at RSW airport skeptical after announcement of reopening government

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Photo by WINK News.

Although President Donald Trump has announced he will fully reopen the federal government, the battle in Washington D.C. isn’t over. Trump is temporarily opening the government after a stalled deal on the border wall shut down federal resources for 35 days. But that doesn’t change the fact that thousands of families across the country had to pay the price of the shutdown.

Friday marked the second week federal workers will go home without a paycheck, which includes TSA workers and air traffic controllers. WINK News spoke to employees and travelers at Southwest Florida International Airport, who are not celebrating the breaking news just yet.

“I think the ability to meet your schedules and time schedules is a problem,” said Thomas Leetch, traveler at RSW. “You wonder how safe the airports are going to be if we pull our working overtime and working second jobs, definitely a concern.”

While there are no issues at RSW, the partial government shutdown caused staffing problems at air traffic centers in Jacksonville and D.C. Friday, which had a ripple effect in several other states.

“Well I know if I were a month without pay, I don’t have second thoughts about going into work,” said Bill Barbaria, traveler at RSW.

Former Pilot Wayne Merrill said people shouldn’t worry about the shutdown’s impact on physical safety in the air.

“Well, of course, they’re going to be nervous,” Merrill said. “But it’s the same people doing the same job. It’s just not quite as many of them, so they probably stand in line for longer.”

Now, as many wait to see what happens in February, Merrill recommends signing up for TSA pre-check if you haven’t already to eliminate wait time for a flight.

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