AXIOS (Brittany Gibson) - TSA staffing crisis escalates as agents quit, stay home
More than 450 TSA agents have quit in the nearly six weeks since the partial government shutdown began, resulting in the "highest wait times in history," a top Department of Homeland Security official told a House committee Wednesday. Why it matters: The resignations represent a small fraction of the 50,000 or so TSA agents who screen passengers, but the departures — combined with workers' absences — are fueling security line delays nationwide. - At New York's JFK International Airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, Houston's George Bush International and New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International, more than one-third of the staff has been absent, according to DHS. - Overall, 11.7% of TSA's agents were absent Sunday,…