MCcarran international airport
A Transportation Security Administration agent peruses a makeshift walk-up pantry at McCarran International Airport.
Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 | 7:45 p.m.
An unidentified Transportation Security Administration agent is seen in a photo holding a box of cereal and grabbing a tube of toothpaste from a table.
The photo posted Wednesday on McCarran International Airport’s Twitter account was taken at a makeshift walk-up pantry set up by Clark County officials at the airport.
The pantry — a collaboration between valley residents and local business owners — is an effort to provide needy federal workers with food and basic household items as the partial shutdown drags into its fifth week.
About 800,000 government employees — including TSA staffers — have been impacted, according to the Associated Press. Roughly half of the employees are working without a check, while the other half aren’t working at all.
Since Dec. 21, a showdown between President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers over $5.7 billion requested by the administration for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border has stalled funding for the government.
Neither side seems to be budging, and two Senate Bills to reopen the government failed to pass Friday.
As the shutdown continues, Trump’s disapproval rating is at an all-time high, Politico reported, citing a poll it conducted with Morning Consult.
About 57 of those polled disapprove of Trump’s job performance, the news outlet reported, with 54 percent blaming the president for the shutdown and 35 percent blaming Democratic lawmakers.
U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto and Jacky Rosen, Nevada Democrats, on Wednesday sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, “requesting an immediate response from the Trump administration concerning the dire impacts of the government shutdown on aviation operations,” according to a news release.
Additionally, 34 groups representing aviation and travel industries on Jan. 10 sent a letter to Trump and lawmakers asking for relief for the federal workers, according to the release.
“We've been overwhelmed by the response to our pop-up pantry for McCarran's federal partners affected by the #governmentshutdown,” the airport wrote on Twitter. “Special thanks to our @ClarkCountyNV colleagues for their generous donations in support of these workers! #community #ClarkCountyCares.”
