With the Senate still negotiating into the night over Homeland Security funding, President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration agents. Trump announced the move in a social media post that focused on “Chaos at the Airports,” as TSA workers faced missed paychecks and airports reported longer lines and operational strain.
The order, Trump said, is meant to keep airport security functioning while lawmakers try to break the budget stalemate. The White House and senators have been in on-again, off-again talks over Department of Homeland Security funding, with congressional leaders trying to reach an agreement before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly, said Trump’s order will pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill. The official compared the approach to steps Trump took during a past shutdown to pay troops, and the official said the rationale was that Democrats created an emergency by declining to approve funding.
The White House had also floated the possibility of invoking a national emergency to pay TSA agents, a step that carries legal and political complications. With pressure mounting, both sides worked to narrow toward an endgame in the final hours before TSA workers lose another paycheck.
The staffing problems have already spilled into the travel experience. The AP reported that the funding shutdown has produced travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers missing paychecks stop coming to work. In its reporting, the AP said multiple airports experienced TSA callout rates above 40%, and it reported that nearly 500 of about 50,000 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide, the AP said more than 11% of TSA employees on the schedule missed work on Wednesday—more than 3,120 callouts—according to the Department of Homeland Security.
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the AP reported that a traveler, Melissa Gates, said she did not make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2½ hours without reaching a security checkpoint. Gates said no other flights were available until Friday, and she told reporters, “I should have just driven, right?” adding, “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”
The acting TSA administrator, Ha Nguyen McNeill, described hardships facing unpaid TSA workers in testimony this week. The AP said she warned of potential airport closures if more employees refuse to come to work, and described problems including piling up bills and eviction notices, as well as plasma donations to make ends meet. At a House hearing, McNeill testified, “At this point, we have to look at all options on the table,” the AP reported.
As negotiations continued, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters earlier Thursday that he had given Democrats a “last and final” offer. Thune said the latest framework picked up from an earlier proposal offered over the weekend, before talks with the White House and Democrats broke off, and he said, “Enough is enough.”
Even as senators retreated to privately discuss the new plan, action stalled. Democrats argued that Republican proposals did not go far enough in adding restraints on officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and they sought additional guardrails after deaths of two Americans protesting immigration-related actions in Minneapolis. Democrats also pushed for agents to wear identification, remove face masks, and avoid conducting raids around schools, churches, or other sensitive places, and they demanded an end to administrative warrants that would allow agents to search homes or private spaces without judge approval—an approach that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he is open to considering but senators said they want to see in writing.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said they needed to see real changes. Trump, largely leaving the issue to Congress, also warned he was ready to act and threatened to send the National Guard to airports, in addition to deploying ICE agents who were checking travelers’ IDs—an approach that drew concerns. “They need to end this shutdown immediately or we’ll have to take drastic measures,” Trump said during a morning Cabinet meeting, according to the AP.
Some Republicans said there were alternatives to declaring a national emergency. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said there was funding elsewhere that could be used legally to pay TSA as well as the Coast Guard. Collins’s comment pointed to disagreement over the necessity of executive emergency action, even as GOP leaders framed Trump’s decision to pay TSA agents as a timely fix for airport security.
The GOP’s funding strategy also reflected internal complexity. The AP reported that Republicans prepared a package aimed at funding as much as possible of the rest of the department, which includes FEMA, the Coast Guard, and immigration enforcement agencies, as Democrats resisted funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection divisions. The AP also said Democrats had repeatedly offered proposals to pay TSA and other parts of DHS, but continued to demand constraints on immigration enforcement. Conservative Republicans, meanwhile, criticized their own party’s proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations.
In Houston and other cities, the operational stakes of the dispute are showing up in the daily movement of travelers. With TSA workers missing paychecks, multiple airports reported high callout rates, and McNeill warned that closures could follow if staffing keeps shrinking—while Thune and other senators continued negotiating in search of a DHS deal that both sides could accept.