Reid warns airport security lines "will stretch out the door"

Reid played the air travel misery card in his Senate floor remarks on Tuesday. "Airports will close, due to a shortage of air traffic controllers," Reid said, echoing administration warnings. "And lines at the airports that do stay open will stretch out the door, as TSA workers are furloughed.

At Las Vegas's airport, "through which 40 million tourists from around the world travel each year, security lines will take an hour longer than they do today," Reid predicted. "Unfortunately, Republicans are standing in the way of a solution. They would sacrifice 750,000 American jobs rather than ask multi-millionaires to pay a penny more."

Pelosi bemoans the "drive-by Congress"

"We've been gone for 10 days," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, told Hill reporters. "We've come back. We'll be gone by Thursday at 3 o'clock when we have a deadline facing us. We're practically becoming a drive-by Congress, a drive-by Congress when we have important work to do."

The Republicans, Pelosi said, claim "they're kicking the can down the road. It's not kick. I don't think they're even kicking the can down the road. I think they're nudging the potato across the table with their nose. There's not much that is being accomplished by what they are doing. This is just completely irresponsible. It's mindless."