President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will sign an order to pay Transportation Security Administration officers who have gone without paychecks during the funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump said on Truth Social that he would instruct newly sworn-in Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to “immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation.”
TSA officers missed their first full paychecks in mid-March, leading many to call out of work. Callout rates for TSA officers have exceeded 11% nationally, with rates at some airports passing 40%.
The high call-out rates have led to lines at some airports taking more than four hours. Trump sent ICE agents to airports to help TSA earlier this week. Unlike TSA officers, ICE agents continue to receive paychecks during the partial shutdown as a result of funding from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill that Trump signed into law last year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke with reporters on Capitol Hill after the president’s TSA announcement.
“Well, obviously it takes the immediate pressure off, but you know, it’s a short-term solution,” he said. “Give the president credit for responding to a crisis in a way that will make sure that after these guys drug this out for 41 days now, TSA agents are finally going to get paid.”
The Senate has repeatedly failed to advance a House-passed bill that would fund DHS, and with it TSA, for a full year. Senators failed to advance it once again Thursday, with the 53-47 tally falling short of the 60 needed to advance the measure. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote in favor of it.
Democrats have opposed the House bill as they demand changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the surge of immigration officers in Minneapolis and the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers there this year.
Asked if work on a DHS deal will continue Thursday night, Thune told reporters, “We will see. I’ll have more to say about that later.”
The Senate is set to depart Friday for a two-week recess. Thune previously said it remains an open question whether he will keep lawmakers in town if they don’t reach a deal on DHS funding.
Asked after the TSA announcement if senators will stay in Washington to work toward an agreement, Thune said, "We'll see how it goes tonight."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement earlier Thursday that the Trump administration was having discussions “about a number of ideas” to improve conditions in airports, as TSA says it is facing the longest security wait times in history.
“It is true that the White House is having discussions about a number of ideas to blunt the impact of the Democrat shutdown crisis, but no preparations or plans are currently underway. The best and easiest way to pay TSA Agents is to fund DHS,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt’s statement seemed to stave off a potential push by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., to bring up a bill to solely fund TSA — an idea Democrats were quick to support.
The possibility of the executive branch funding TSA through administrative means came up in discussions among Senate Republicans earlier Thursday. Asked whether Trump could declare a national emergency to pay TSA officers, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said, “Well, the president has the authority, so we’ll see what happens.”
