The Department of Homeland Security briefly suspended both TSA PreCheck and Global Entry on Sunday, a sudden move that rattled travelers before the agency partially reversed itself. TSA quickly restored PreCheck service, but Global Entry remained suspended, and courtesy escorts for members of Congress and other VIPs at airports were cut.

Secretary Kristi Noem tied the decision directly to the partial government shutdown that began on Feb. 14, framing it as a necessary triage of limited resources during a funding lapse caused by congressional deadlock.

"This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress."

The third time. In a single Congress. At some point, the pattern stops being an accident and starts being a strategy.

What Actually Changed

The operational picture shook out like this after TSA's rapid reversal:

• TSA PreCheck remains active for enrolled travelers.
• Global Entry, the $120 expedited customs program for travelers arriving in the US, is suspended.
• Courtesy and family escorts for congressional lawmakers by police at airports are paused.
• FEMA is halting all non-disaster-related responses to prioritize actual emergencies, a move Noem called "particularly important" with a significant winter storm bearing down on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

According to the department, the programs that were suspended or considered for suspension had been drawing staff away from the critical mission of getting passengers screened. When you're operating with a reduced workforce and no certainty about when funding returns, you prioritize the core function. That's not chaos. That's management.

PreCheck costs fliers $85. Global Entry costs $120. These are paid services, and the people enrolled in them have every right to be frustrated. But frustration should be directed at the people who created the funding gap, not the department trying to keep airports secure with fewer hands on deck.

The Shutdown Nobody Wanted to Prevent

According to The New York Post, the partial government shutdown started Feb. 14 following a funding deadlock between Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers on both sides agreed to fully fund the rest of the government outside DHS through Sept. 30. That's the tell. Everything else got funded. DHS became the hostage.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection remain largely funded because of the GOP's passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. That foresight kept the enforcement apparatus running. But the broader DHS operations, including the travel facilitation programs millions of Americans rely on, got caught in the crossfire.

Noem made the stakes plain:

"Shutdowns have real world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security."

"The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians."

Note the word "inflicted." That's not diplomatic language. It's accurate language. When you refuse to fund a department and then complain about the consequences of that refusal, you own the damage.

Democrats Discover Inconvenience

House Homeland Security Committee Democrats raged against the move, accusing the administration of "ruining your travel on purpose."

Think about that for a moment. The same political faction that couldn't find the votes to keep DHS funded turned around and blamed the department for managing the shortage they created. This is the legislative equivalent of slashing someone's tires and then complaining they're late to dinner.

The White House has given multiple offers to Democrats to resolve the impasse. The offers haven't been accepted. Meanwhile, President Trump has made overtures such as winding down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which helped spark the recent immigration standoff, and rolling out body cameras. These are good-faith gestures. They've been met with a shutdown.

There's also a revealing detail buried in the operational changes: the suspension of courtesy and special privilege escorts for members of Congress at airports. Lawmakers who helped engineer this shutdown will now navigate the terminal like everyone else. No police escort. No special treatment. Just the same security lines their constituents have always stood in.

If Congress wants the privileges back, there's a straightforward solution. Fund the department.

The Real Cost

The people who bear the weight of a shutdown are never the people who caused it. DHS employees and their families go without paychecks. Travelers who paid for expedited programs lose access to services they already bought. FEMA redirects resources away from non-disaster work right as winter storms threaten the eastern seaboard.

Noem laid out priorities that make operational sense: screen passengers first, respond to disasters first, cut the perks and courtesies that consume staff without protecting the public. These are exactly the kinds of decisions a department secretary should make under constrained resources.

The question isn't whether DHS handled the shutdown correctly. The question is why, for the third time in this Congress, Democrats forced DHS into making these choices at all.