Trump steps in to pay TSA workers as House, Senate trade shutdown blame

President Trump has ordered Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to find funds to pay Transportation Security Administration workers while a partial shutdown of government operations continues due to bickering in Congress.

Mr. Trump said wait times at U.S. airports are unacceptable, as TSA workers quit or call out sick because they are not being paid.

“These increased wait times, combined with declining morale among TSA staff, unacceptably heighten the risk of security vulnerabilities within our domestic travel system and has negatively impacted countless Americans,” Mr. Trump wrote in a memo on Friday.

It’s not clear how long the president’s action will take to have an impact on airport security lines. The Department of Homeland Security, writing on X, said the TSA “has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce” and officers should begin receiving checks on Monday.

The Senate early Friday passed a partial Department of Homeland Security funding bill, as Republicans caved to Democrats’ refusal to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol.

However, House GOP leaders said the bill is unacceptable, meaning the shutdown will continue.

SEE ALSO: House Republicans object to Senate’s partial DHS funding bill, push 8-week stopgap

“The Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican. “We are going to deport dangerous, criminal illegal aliens, because it is a basic function of the government.”

House Republicans are trying to pass an eight-week stopgap measure funding the entire department, though that bill would likely be dead on arrival in the Senate. Democrats can block the bill through filibuster rules requiring 60 votes to advance legislation.

Advertisement Advertisement

Mr. Trump said Democrats’ demands for an overhaul at ICE were causing the shutdown, so he had to step in.

“If Democrats in the Congress will not act to honor the service of our TSA officers, who are now performing their critical public safety responsibilities without knowing whether they will be able to buy food for their families or pay their rent, then my administration will take action,” his memo said.

The memo directs Mr. Mullin to find money with “a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to pay security workers during the shutdown.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Mr. Trump could have paid TSA agents “from the very beginning, but chose not to because he wanted to inflict chaos at airports and harm the American people.”

“But the pressure has gotten too hot for him, and so he’s done what Democrats have demanded, pay TSA agents,” the New York Democrat said. “But we need to reopen the Department of Homeland Security and move this bipartisan bill forward.”

Advertisement Advertisement

• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this story.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.