- Salt Lake City International Airport won't play Kristi Noem's video about the government shutdown, citing Utah law.
- The video blames Democrats for the shutdown affecting TSA operations.
- Other airports also declined, citing political messaging restrictions from laws like the Hatch Act.
SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. government shutdown is entering its third week, which has impacted everything from funding sources to federal employee payments and anything else overseen by federal employees, such as security checkpoints at airports.
In recent days, many airports have started airing a prerecorded video message from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in which she blames Democratic members of Congress for the shutdown that began on Oct. 1.
"It is TSA's top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible while we keep you safe. However, 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," she says in the 30-second video. "We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel, and our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government."
However, Salt Lake City International Airport is among the growing number of U.S airports opting not to play the message.
The airport had been asked to play the video on Thursday, but officials — in consulting with city attorneys — determined that the video appears to violate a Utah law that bans municipal employees from using city-owned equipment for political activity, said Salt Lake City International Airport spokeswoman Nancy Volmer. Thus, the airport declined to play it at its security lines.
"Those monitors that we would play the video on are owned and operated by the city, so we are prohibited from playing any political messages on that," she said on Tuesday. "This is not a partisan issue; this is totally based on political messaging."
The federal shutdown began after the last appropriations agreement that Congress approved expired at the end of September, and Republicans and Democrats have yet to reach an agreement on a new federal budget.
Democrats have called for the extension of tax breaks for the millions covered by the Affordable Care Act that will otherwise expire at the end of the year, while Republicans, who control the majority in Congress, said they are open to dealing with the issue separately from the rest of the budget, which has been one of the biggest dividing points, USA Today points out.
Political polls find that most Americans generally agree that both parties played significant roles in the shutdown.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that 67% of respondents said that Republicans "deserved a fair amount or a great deal of blame," and 63% said the same about Democrats. Nearly two-thirds also said President Donald Trump, a Republican, "deserves at least a fair amount of blame." A Harvard/Harris poll conducted right when the shutdown began found that 53% of respondents blamed it on Republicans, while 47% blamed Democrats for it.
Noem's video mirrored messages from other agencies overseen by the Trump administration since the shutdown, including TSA. The agency tweeted from its official account on Oct. 1 that federal funding had expired "due to the partisan politics of left-wing politicians." It added that the vast majority of its employees are "considered excepted or exempt," meaning they would continue to work through the shutdown, while other employees are furloughed.
Meanwhile, several other large airports, including Harry Reid International in Las Vegas, Seattle-Tacoma International and Charlotte Douglas International Airport, have also opted not to play the Noem video, CNN reported earlier this week. A spokesperson for the Port of Portland in Oregon told Newsweek that it declined to play the video because it appeared to violate the Hatch Act of 1939, which "clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging."
Salt Lake City's decision, Volmer said, had nothing to do with choices made in other cities. The airport determined not to play the video without consulting any outside airports. She said she can't speculate if that could result in any blowback by the Department of Homeland Security, which directs TSA operations, or state leaders.
"We're just following the law, and that's why we're not airing the messages," she said.
Contributing: Adam Small
