Monument’s Stewart Verdery spoke with Bloomberg Government about how long airport security lines are mobilizing lobbyists in the travel sector to pressure lawmakers and the administration to resolve the Homeland Security Department funding lapse.
Republican lobbyist Stewart Verdery, founder of Monument Advocacy whose clients include the US Travel Association and Alaska Airlines, said it’s not the first time lawmakers “have tried to hold the travel process hostage to unrelated policy goals.”
He said most Americans would sour on the DHS shutdown if airport security delays extend during spring break travel.
The industry, too, he said, approached the closure cautiously at first because it didn’t want to weigh in on the fights over immigration enforcement.
“But as this has dragged on, you see the rhetoric ratchet up,” he said.