I usually fancy myself pretty good and spotting so-called fake news. I spend my days reading the news, mucking around AI generated content. I've been reading The Onion since the 90s. So it was with a special sense of awe this week when I saw the X post and thought, "nah, cannot be real." I was wrong. We have come to a place where our government is asking for donations from its citizens to feed our TSA agents. Denver International Airport posted on March 11 asking travelers to bring $10 and $20 grocery store and gas gift cards for the agents screening their bags.

San Jose Mineta International Airport said local businesses started donating meals, groceries, and gas cards. There are federal rules governing all of this, naturally — no cash, no Visa gift cards, nothing over $20 in value. The bureaucracy of giving charity to your own federal workforce is its own special kind of poetry.

This is what a month-long partial government shutdown looks like on the ground. TSA says around 300 agents have left the job since the shutdown started February 14, and the ones who remain just received what airline CEOs politely described as "$0 paychecks." The result has been predictable. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest airport in the country, told travelers to arrive three hours early. Austin's security lines spilled outside the terminal. Chicago O'Hare was a mess. Spring break is in full swing.

Airline CEOs — from American, Delta, United, and Southwest — wrote to Congress on Sunday with the kind of letter that reads as restrained fury disguised as professionalism. "It's difficult, if not impossible, to put food on the table, to put gas in the car and pay rent when you are not getting paid," they wrote. They pointed out that the stakes go beyond spring break: the World Cup kicks off this summer, alongside celebrations of the country's 250th birthday. Airlines for America forecasts around 171 million travelers between March and April alone.

And about that World Cup. International arrivals ticked up 0.8% in February, technically ending a nine-month streak of declines. But let's not break out the champagne. Arrivals from Western Europe, the largest source of inbound tourism, dropped 6.1%. Africa and Oceania posted double-digit declines. Statistics Canada reported that return trips by Canadian residents fell 14.5% in February. As Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta put it, the U.S. has lost half its share of global inbound tourism in a generation, falling from 10% to about 5%.

So here's where we are. We're asking travelers to donate gift cards to the people keeping airports safe while simultaneously hoping millions of international visitors show up this summer for the biggest sporting event on the planet. Congress, meanwhile, remains at an impasse. The airline CEOs put it simply: "This problem is solvable, and there are solutions on the table. Now it's up to you, Congress, to move forward." The donations are appreciated, I'm sure. But maybe pay the people.