One of the world’s biggest and most powerful companies has had enough of the ongoing defunding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Now they’re hitting lawmakers from both sides of the aisle where it hurts — and motives them — the most.
Their wallet!
Delta Airlines has temporarily axed its special congressional desk service to lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill until Congress finally funds the DHS, which has been in a partial shutdown since Feb. 28.
NEWS that Congressional staff are not going to like- Delta is suspending its special congressional desk service for members of Congress until the shutdown is over. @ajc https://t.co/q2w4VIkK7p pic.twitter.com/sXnnZFOz4G
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) March 24, 2026
“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” the company said in a statement first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”
Delta’s perks to members of Congress included benefits such as airport escorts and red coat services.
Its Capitol Desk reservation line is still open, but lawmakers will be “treated as any passenger based on their respective SkyMiles status” for the time being.
Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian delivered a fiery response to Congress for allowing funding for DHS to lapse, which has resulted in Transportation Security Administration employees going without full pay for over a month.
Bastian called the situation “inexcusable” and railed against lawmakers for using TSA workers as “political chips.”
The move has been simmering with no resolution to the current shutdown, prompting many airline execs to give a preemptive ultimatum to lawmakers.
“Too many travelers are having to wait in extraordinarily long – and painfully slow – lines at checkpoints,” the CEOs of Delta, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Air, and others wrote in an open letter to Congress.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) pushed legislation targeting airline-related perks for members of Congress. The Senate passed that bill unanimously last week.
“As many Americans probably don’t know …airports around the country allow Members of Congress to bypass the usual TSA security screening process at airports,” Corny wrote at the time. “This should end today.”
“We know trust in Congress is at an all-time low, but today, thank goodness, the Senate has taken an important step towards restoring the trust of the people we are here to represent.”
📣 Last night on the Senate floor, my bill, the End Special Treatment for Congress at Airports Act, passed the Senate unanimously. This legislation would require Members of Congress to undergo the same @TSA screening procedures as everyone else as well as prohibit the use of…
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 20, 2026
Others have proposed blocking lawmakers from getting paid, but Congress is blocked from changing its pay until the next Congress is sworn in by the 27th Amendment.
The DHS funding lapse has hit TSA and airport workers hard, as the agency sits under DHS.
Across the country, TSA lines have skyrocketed, with call-out rates, which hovered around 2% before the shutdown, jolting past 10% due to the funding lapse, according to acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl.
Close to 400 TSA workers have quit since the partial shutdown began.
Stahl also warned that there’s a risk that several small airports will be forced to close down if the funding lapse continues.
TSA workers last got a full paycheck on Feb. 14, then received a partial one on Feb. 28 and missed their next pay period on March 13, according to an agency spokesperson.
Friday is their next pay period, according to the New York Post.
On Monday, President Trump deployed ICE to airports across the country to help alleviate staffing pressures on TSA caused by the partial shutdown.
This is the third funding lapse TSA workers have weathered in six months.