If the sequester takes effect, $1.2 trillion will be cut across the board. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be cut for government programs that keep an airport safe and functioning. Cuts to these programs means less staffing and longer waits at the airport.
Passenger Carolyn French says, "I go to Naples, Florida a lot. I go to Maui a lot. More time in the security line would be difficult."
French laments the possibility of having to wait in longer TSA security lines before boarding her flights. But that might be a reality if a sequestration order goes through on March 1st. Yesterday, President Obama laid out the consequences of the automatic spending cuts that would follow.
"These cuts are not smart, they are not fair, they will hurt our economy, they will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls," said the President. "This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs."
TSA employees and Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA employees, would be at the forefront of the cuts. In a letter from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to a democratic senator, it explains the FAA would undergo $600 million in spending cuts, forcing tens of thousands of employees to be furloughed.
Santa Maria Public Airport general manager Chris Hastert says along with the longer security check lines, effects will be felt in the control tower at airports.
"It could add to the delays of planes coming in because they aren't able to coordinate the traffic quite as well as an air traffic controller does in the tower," says Hastert.
In that letter from the Secretary of Transportation, it says most FAA employees could be furloughed up to 2 days every two weeks.
