Trump signs order to pay TSA after House rejects Senate-passed bill to end shutdown

President Trump signed an executive order today to fund salaries for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees before they miss a second monthly paycheck, which would be today. Trump said earlier this week that he would sign the order if Congress did not pass a bill to end the now 42-day long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate did pass a measure to fund most of DHS by unanimous consent early this morning. But Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refused to bring the bill to a House floor for a vote. Johnson cited his objection to the fact that the bill funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. Unlike TSA, ICE and Border Patrol agents have not missed a paycheck since they received $175 billion in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill last year.

Democrats have refused to further fund ICE and Border Patrol without substantive reforms after the killings of two Americans by ICE agents in Minnesota. The Democrats want to ban ICE agents from concealing their faces and require them to formally identify themselves and abide by the same use of force standards that apply to other federal law enforcement agencies. They also want to end the practice of allowing ICE agents to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants. Markwayne Mullin, the newly-sworn in head of DHS, has said he wanted to go back to requiring judicial warrants, but the Democrats want guarantees in writing.

TSA resignations and airport chaos

Nearly 500 of the 50,000 TSA agents nationwide have resigned since the shutdown began. According to DHS, 11.8% of employees scheduled to work on Thursday called out of work. Many TSA workers have reported having to turn to food banks and other means of support during the shutdown to make ends meet. Some are having to miss their TSA shifts in order to take paying work to get by. A study last year found that 68% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.

The callouts have resulted in long wait times in security lines at major airports across the US. There have also been worries that some airports would be forced to close if they could not staff their TSA checkpoints. However, the picture varies from airport to airport and it is difficult for passengers to predict security wait times. Some airports are warning panicked travelers to not arrive too early because this can also cause delays.