Trump says he’ll sign order to pay TSA during shutdown
People wait in TSA security queues at New York’s John F.
Kennedy International Airport on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to pay Transportation Security Administration officers in a bid to alleviate disruptions at US airports with lawmakers in Congress deadlocked on how to end a partial government shutdown. “I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullen, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump declared in a social media post on Thursday evening. “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!” It is unclear what legal authority the president has to circumvent Congress, which broadly controls federal spending, to pay TSA workers.
At the same time, it may be hard for opponents to stop Trump – who successfully ordered the military to keep getting paid during the last full federal shutdown in 2025 – from moving funds around to pay TSA now.
An ICE agent watches a TSA security line at New York’s John F.
Kennedy International Airport on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters The Republican-led House and Senate have been broadly deferential to Trump as he increasingly flexes powers typically reserved to the legislature in his second term.
Trump’s unilateral action comes amid a weeks-long funding fight over the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, that has led to staffing shortages and long wait times for air travellers.
TSA employees have not been paid for weeks, snarling air travel at key hubs and bringing more risks to an economy already confronting higher oil and gas prices due to the Iran war.
As those disruptions intensified and with lawmakers facing a two-week break, congressional talks to secure a deal took on new urgency in recent days.
Democrats have held up DHS funding in a bid to secure changes to immigration enforcement policies following the killings of two US citizens by agents earlier this year.
Republicans rejected offers from Democrats for a stand-alone bill that would pay for the TSA and parts of the DHS that are not related to immigration.
Republican Senator John Barrasso spoke with Trump about the order and said the president was doing the right thing.
Negotiations on DHS spending will continue, Barrasso added.
It is unclear, however, whether Congress will remain in town or leave Washington for their break.
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