A plane sits on a Lincoln Airport runway on Aug. 25, 2023. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s two largest airports aren’t airing a video by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that blames Democrats for the government shutdown.
Officials with the biggest airport in the state — Omaha-based airport Eppley Airfield — aren’t playing the video because DHS and the Transportation Security Administration have not requested to show the video at the Omaha airport or on its screens or systems, an Eppley Airfield spokesperson said. The airport in Lincoln lacks video monitors in its TSA screening area, so the video can’t be played.
Omaha and Lincoln join airports in Atlanta, Buffalo, N.Y., Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Jersey, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., and Seattle that have confirmed not playing the Noem video. Airport officials in those states point to local policies and state laws restricting politicking in those spaces for the reason, according to NPR. Texas airports are refusing to play the video for similar reasons.
Airports typically run most videos from the Homeland Security head on screens at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, but these generally relate to safety information and don’t get political.
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The video posted by White House shows Noem saying it’s “TSA’s top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible while we keep you safe,” but “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”
With the federal government shut down and no end in sight, the Trump administration has used government websites and agencies — which are supposed to avoid politicking — in a messaging battle over who is to blame for Congress not funding the federal government, for the shutdown.
For example, websites for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development posted messages blaming the “Radical Left” in Congress. The Trump administration is also inserting language in some automated email responses blaming Democrats for the impasse.
Democratic senators now allege that the Department of Homeland Security violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that prohibits political activities of federal employees to ensure government programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, by asking airports to play the video blaming Democrats for the shutdown. It’s unlikely Noem would face any consequences, according to legal experts.
