WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he would sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration agents, while senators worked overnight into Friday trying to end a budget impasse that has jammed airports and created financial hardship for workers.
Trump announced his decision in a social media post saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.”
With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding, senators and the White House closed in on the endgame in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday.
The White House had floated the extraordinary move of invoking a national emergency to pay the TSA agents, a politically and legally fraught approach. Instead, Trump’s order will pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
At the same time, senators were working through the night on a package that would fund as much of the rest of the department as possible, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard. Democrats have demanded restraints on the Homeland Security officers conducting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions before agreeing to fund those parts of the agency.
“The president is doing absolutely the right thing,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, after speaking with Trump. “The TSA agents are going to be paid.”
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 missing paychecks stop coming to work.
Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of its 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.
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union is grateful the TSA workers will be paid, but said Congress must stay in session to pass a deal “that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.”
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Melissa Gates said she would not make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2½ hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.
“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”
A ‘last and final’ offer on the table
Earlier Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., announced he had given a “last and final” offer to the Democrats.
Thune did not disclose details of the new framework, but he said it picked up from a previous offer over the weekend, before talks with the White House and Democrats had broken off.
“Enough is enough,” he said.
But as senators retreated to privately discuss the new plan, action stalled out.
Democrats argued the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 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 or other sensitive places. Democrats have also pushed for an end of administrative warrants, insisting 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 considering, but senators want to see in writing.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said they needed to see real changes.
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.
“They need to end this shutdown immediately or we’ll have to take drastic measures,” Trump said during a Thursday morning Cabinet meeting.
The GOP’s big tax cuts bill that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid during the shutdown.
Any deal almost certainly needs to involve a compromise as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt. Conservative Republicans have panned their own party’s proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations.
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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking, Rebecca Santana, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley in Washington, Lekan Oyekanmi in Houston, Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report.
