The financial criteria for the level of clearance most TSA clerks need isn't all that stringent and lots depends on the reasons behind any difficulties. Anyway, having a financial impact from a missing paycheck doesn't necessarily make one "broke". Some could simply be concerned about what's to come and want to shore up their reserves, since the President and others in office have repeatedly made assertions that the shutdown could go on for "weeks or months" - it's already the longest shutdown in history. I'd guess that some of them are going on job interviews. Likely we'll see more of these employees begin to simply quit for other jobs, if this goes on much longer.

At this point, the Federal government is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to timely pay its employees, as the Court of Federal Claims previously ruled in a lawsuit connected to the 2013 shutdown and excepted employees.

https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits...utdown/135541/

I'm no fan of the TSA whatsoever, just seeing different perspectives on the present situation. Maybe this whole episode will, among other things, prompt a re-evaluation of our overall strategy for commercial airline passenger security. (Probably not but who knows.)