On Thursday, President Donald Trump declared that he would bypass Congress to make direct payments to Transportation Security Administration agents while lawmakers engage in funding discussions for the Department of Homeland Security.
This action, communicated through TruthSocial, may temporarily alleviate the escalating strain in U.S. airports where TSA personnel have gone unpaid, resulting in lengthy security queues. It might also allow Congress to depart for a pre-scheduled two-week recess at week’s end.
“The Democrats have irresponsibly manufactured a genuine National Crisis, and I am exercising my legal powers to safeguard our Great Country, as I consistently do!,” Trump stated. “Thus, I will issue an Order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to promptly compensate our TSA Agents to rectify this Emergency Situation and swiftly end the Democrat Chaos at the Airports.”
This decision raises concerns regarding the ongoing DHS discussions, with other sub-agencies like the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Patrol still lacking funds.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., remarked that Trump’s action “alleviates the immediate pressure. However, it is merely a temporary fix.”
“The Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they are uninterested in funding any law enforcement aspects [of DHS],” Thune told reporters on Thursday night.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., informed reporters at the Capitol shortly post-Trump’s announcement that he had conversed with Trump on the phone.
“The president is absolutely doing the right thing. He’s demonstrating leadership while Democrats persist in opposing the… freedom-loving citizens of this country,” Barrasso commented.
Barrasso criticized Democrats for not engaging in discussions on Thursday after Republicans put forth a “final offer” to reopen the agency, which included funding for all of DHS aside from a segment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the leading Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, refuted the accusation, asserting that Democrats had been involved in talks throughout the day and questioned Trump’s unilateral action.
“His national emergency is due to his inability to negotiate? He’s a poor negotiator. I don’t believe that constitutes a national emergency,” Murphy told reporters.
Trump’s declaration followed a cabinet meeting where he urged Congress to swiftly resolve the shutdown that’s causing growing issues for air passengers.
“They must end the shutdown immediately, or we will have to resort to very drastic measures,” Trump asserted from the White House.
At that time, he refrained from outlining the specific actions he might take or detailing his involvement in negotiations to renew DHS funding. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that some Senate Republicans were urging Trump to declare a national emergency to allocate funds and compensate TSA employees.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, indicated on Thursday that a Trump intervention may be forthcoming.
“I’m not going to delve into specifics, other than to say that there are funds that can be lawfully utilized to compensate TSA, alongside funding for the Coast Guard, for instance,” Collins told Capitol reporters.
Later on Thursday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated, “it is accurate that discussions are ongoing at the White House about several strategies to alleviate the impacts of the Democrat shutdown crisis, but no concrete preparations or plans are currently underway.”
“The most effective and straightforward way to fund TSA Agents is to finance DHS,” Leavitt emphasized.
The DHS shutdown has persisted for over a month and has complicated air travel, although lawmakers still appeared to be at a standstill prior to Trump’s announcement.
Thune stated to reporters on Thursday that Democrats have received Republicans’ “final offer,” according to MS Now. Thune refrained from sharing the specifics of the recent offer but mentioned that the White House had “been involved in the back and forth that has occurred overnight.”
Murphy declined to disclose details of the offer to reporters earlier in the day, but pointed out, “I don’t know if it can materialize.”
With the upcoming recess on Friday and TSA lines becoming increasingly lengthy, negotiations have intensified recently, leading to a fleeting sense of optimism earlier in the week.
A coalition of Senate Republicans convened with Trump at the White House on Monday and emerged with what they touted as a compromise proposal: funding for 94% of DHS, excluding the enforcement and removal segment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
However, Democrats—who have withheld their backing for the agency’s funding since February, shortly after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement operation—dismissed the proposal due to its lack of the ICE operational adjustments they had long sought. These modifications demand immigration agents to obtain judicial warrants prior to entering private premises and prohibit the use of masks.
Republicans broadly rejected a Senate Democratic counterproposal on Wednesday that incorporated some of those adjustments.
MS Now reported that the latest proposal mirrors one the GOP previously suggested earlier that week. It would finance all of DHS except for ICE’s enforcement and removal tasks. Furthermore, it would include language to seek to resolve Democratic worries that other divisions of DHS might similarly execute those enforcement and removal roles.
In addition to prolonging the shutdown, the deadlock raises the possibility of intruding upon the recess scheduled to commence at the end of this week. Thune informed reporters on Wednesday that there was an “open question” regarding whether lawmakers would manage to depart as planned.
Earlier in the week, the White House indicated in background discussions that it aligned with the GOP’s plan to reinstate DHS funding, but Trump has yet to openly endorse the proposal.
On Monday, the Trump administration dispatched ICE agents to airports to assist TSA. Trump suggested on Wednesday that he might also deploy National Guard personnel to airports for added support.
As the deadline approaches, some Republican lawmakers proposed funding solely for TSA.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., indicated he would introduce legislation to do exactly that and expected support from his Republican peers. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., mentioned a general consensus on funding TSA but indicated that Democrats were trying to clarify how to finance the agency without also funding ICE.
Senate Democrats have consistently insisted on votes to fund all elements of DHS aside from ICE, Murphy highlighted.
“We have been proposing that on the floor daily. So naturally, we would fund TSA alone,” Murphy stated.
However, Thune remarked that a TSA-exclusive approach would not address the broader issue.
“There’s FEMA involved. You’ve got the Coast Guard. All these other crucial agencies exist,” Thune told reporters on Thursday.
— Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.
