Trump signs executive action to pay TSA employees after Congress fails to agree on DHS funding
President Donald Trump has signed a promised executive action that will pay Transportation Security Administration employees, after a deal that sought to do the same stalled in Congress.
Trump signed the action with an eye toward easing long security lines at many of nation’s top airports.
“America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments.
White House says money to pay TSA employees will come from Trump’s tax cut bill
The White House has clarified that funding to pay TSA workers will come from President Donald Trump’s big tax cut bill. Trump had floated the idea of declaring a national emergency to facilitate the payments but nothing has been signed yet.
TSA workers are due to miss their second consecutive paycheck today and a Senate-passed DHS funding compromise has collapsed in the House.
DHS says TSA workers could be paid as early as Monday, but doesn’t say where the money will come from
The Department of Homeland Security says Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is starting the process of paying the Transportation Security Administration workforce.
“TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday, March 30. TSA is grateful to the President and Secretary for their leadership to put money back into the pockets of TSA employees who worked without pay during the ongoing Democrat DHS shutdown,” the department said in a statement Friday.
The department did not respond to questions about where the money was coming from to pay the TSA workers.
House speaker rejects Homeland Security funding bill passed by the Senate
House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected a Senate-passed bill to fund Homeland Security as a ‘joke’ and plans a vote on an alternative.
“We’re going to do something different,” Johnson said, challenging the Senate to take up the House’s continuing resolution on Monday — assuming it does pass the House, which is uncertain.
Some senators have already left town after acting in the early morning hours to end the partial shutdown, so it would take time for them to return if the House ends up passing a different measure than the one that cleared the Senate in the early morning hours Friday.
Funding bill hits resistance in the House
House Republicans are resisting a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, which risks delaying a resolution to the funding impasse that stretched into its 42nd day Friday.
Next steps are uncertain, but Republicans are angry that the Senate bill does not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
“It is the most reckless thing we’ve ever seen and we’re so frustrated by it,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, who said he would consult with fellow Republicans before announcing next steps.
When too many travelers coming too early poses a problem
An airport where security lines have remained manageably short is telling passengers to stop arriving so early.
John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, says early birds seeing news of hours-long waits in other cities are making things worse by creating bottlenecks during peak times.
The Ohio airport sought to assure passengers in a social media post Thursday: “90 minutes before departure is all you need.”
Its website said the average expected wait for Columbus travelers to clear airport security on Friday was 23 minutes.
Largest union for US government employees endorses TSA funding deal
The president of the American Federation of Government Employees said in a letter Friday that TSA officers, Coast Guard civilian workers and employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency all face missing a third consecutive paycheck if Congress doesn’t act.
Everett B. Kelley implored Congress to “please end the longest partial government shutdown” that has affected Department of Homeland Security employees for 42 days.
“The House can demonstrate its bipartisan support of the hardworking professionals of DHS who serve the public with dedication, respect, and excellence,” Kelley wrote.
Largest pilots union urges Congress to approve a deal to pay TSA officers before leaving town
The largest pilots union is urging Congress to approve a deal to pay TSA officers before lawmakers leave Washington, D.C., for their spring recess starting next week.
Capt. Jason Ambrosi, who is president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said the TSA officers who keep showing up for work deserve to be paid.
Ambrosi said the officers “are expected to show up every day to keep America’s skies safe and secure. These dedicated professionals will see their second zero dollar paycheck today. They are still worrying about mortgages, childchild keeping the lights on, yet they keep coming to work without being paid.”
Conservative wing of House GOP adds demands for passage of funding bill
A group of nearly two dozen Republicans, including members of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters Friday that they wouldn’t help pass the bill funding TSA and most of DHS unless it funds the entire department, in addition to other demands. Their position could complicate work in the House to quickly pass the bill Friday.
“This deal is bad for America. It’s bad for Americans,” said Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the Freedom Caucus.
The opposition from conservatives could force GOP leaders to rely on Democratic support to pass the legislation, something they generally try to avoid.
TSA is sending reinforcements to help backlogged Houston airport
The Department of Homeland Security says members of TSA’s National Deployment Force and security officers from other Texas airports are being dispatched to Houston, where about 40% of scheduled TSA officers haven’t come to work this week.
DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement late Thursday that Houston travelers have been “experiencing some of the worst wait times in TSA history.”
The staffing shortage has hit especially hard at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where officials warned that waits in security lines could again top four hours Friday.
An update on the airport’s website said 32 security officers from the National Deployment Force, which sends reinforcement to understaffed U.S. airports, were already helping open additional security lanes at George Bush International.
Passengers stuck with long waits say TSA agents need pay restored
Vanessa Maturana was flying Friday to Chicago from Atlanta, where long security lines have been holding up passengers for hours this week.
She said it’s time for Congress to approve a deal to fund TSA.
“They just need to pay the guys,” Maturana said. “Just get them their salary on time and do what they need to do.”
Orlando Ashford, flying to Washington from Atlanta, agreed a resolution was needed “as soon as possible.”
“To have to sit in lines that literally wrap around the building and outside, it’s inefficient,” said Ashford, who came to the Atlanta airport 3 1/2 hours early for his flight. “So hopefully they get this fixed soon.”
Atlanta travelers again waiting in lines that stretch outside
As in previous days, security lines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta snaked through the main terminal Friday morning and spilled down the sidewalk outside.
The hourslong waits had travelers fuming.
Arthur Tsebetzis, heading home to West Palm Beach, Florida, called the pileup of passengers “an absolute nightmare.”
“I don’t blame all the airports, but this one here is absolutely an abomination,” Tsebetzis said as he navigated the long check-in line. “It’s looping around, down the street into the parking.” He called the political impasse over funding TSA agents “idiotic.”
“It’s a political pawn,” Tsebetzis said, “and the people are paying the price.”
Speaker Johnson says the House is discussing how to proceed on the funding bill
Speaker Mike Johnson says it’s to be determined how the House will proceed on the Homeland Security funding bill.
“We’re going to have some meetings this morning and figure out what the will is like,” Johnson told reporters.
Airport lines grow as TSA workers endure hardships
The funding shutdown has resulted in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers who are missing paychecks stop coming to work.
Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers, and nearly 500 of the agency’s nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.
On-again, off-again talks collapsed
Earlier Thursday, Thune announced he had given a “last and final” offer to the Democrats. But as the day dragged on, action stalled out.
Democrats argued the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies who are engaged in the immigration sweeps, particularly after the deaths of two Americans protesting the actions in Minneapolis.
They want federal agents to wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches and other sensitive places. Democrats have insisted that judges sign off before agents search people’s homes or private spaces — something new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he is open to.
Trump had largely left the issue to Congress, but warned he was ready to take action, threatening to send the National Guard to airports in addition to his deployment of ICE agents who are now checking travelers’ IDs.
If the Senate package is approved by the House and signed it into law, the action Trump announced to pay TSA agents may be temporary or unneeded.
What’s in and out of the funding package
Senators worked through the night on the deal that would fund much of the rest of the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and TSA, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Customs was funded, but Border Protection was not.
The package puts no new limits on immigration enforcement, which has remained largely uninterrupted by the shutdown. The GOP’s big tax cuts bill that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions in extra funds to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid despite the lapse.
Next steps in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson holds a slim majority, are uncertain. Passage will almost certainly require bipartisan support, as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt.
Conservative Republicans have panned their own party’s proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations. Many have vowed to ensure ICE has the resources it needs in the next budget package to carry out Trump’s agenda.
Senate approves funding for TSA and most of Homeland Security, but not immigration enforcement
The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.
The deal, which was approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it later Friday.
With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the endgame emerged in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday. President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.” The deal did not include any of the restraints Democrats have demanded as they sought to rein in Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
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The Associated Press
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