President Donald Trump moved on Friday to ease mounting disruption at U.S. airports by ordering that Transportation Security Administration employees be paid immediately, even as the political standoff over Department of Homeland Security funding appeared set to continue for several more days. The emergency action came after Congress failed to reach a broader agreement to fully restore funding for the agency, leaving tens of thousands of frontline security workers without pay since mid-February.
In an executive order, Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget to use funds with what he called a “reasonable and logical nexus” to TSA operations to provide employees with the compensation and benefits they would have received if not for the shutdown. The administration did not immediately explain in detail which accounts would be tapped or how durable the funding mechanism would be, but DHS said TSA workers could begin seeing paychecks as soon as Monday.
The move comes as the partial DHS shutdown enters its seventh week. Roughly 50,000 to 61,000 TSA employees have missed two full paychecks since funding lapsed on February 14, according to reporting by Reuters and AP. The impact has been severe: absenteeism has surged, hundreds of officers have resigned, and airport security lines have stretched for hours at major hubs including New York’s JFK, Baltimore-Washington, Houston and Atlanta.
The funding impasse has exposed a deep divide on Capitol Hill. The Senate passed a measure to fund most of DHS, including TSA, but excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. House Republicans rejected that plan, with Speaker Mike Johnson dismissing it as inadequate and instead advancing an eight-week stopgap bill that would fully fund the department. Senate Democrats have indicated that House proposal is unlikely to pass in its current form, prolonging uncertainty over a full reopening.
Trump had previewed the order on Truth Social on Thursday night after negotiations broke down, framing the issue as an emergency and blaming Democrats for the continued disruption. Johnson later said the president backed the House Republican approach and argued that the executive action would at least address the most immediate operational crisis at airports.
While the order offers short-term relief for TSA staff and travelers, it does not resolve the wider shutdown affecting DHS. Questions remain over whether the administration’s funding workaround will withstand legal and political scrutiny, and how long TSA can be paid this way if Congress remains deadlocked. For now, the White House appears focused on containing the visible fallout at airports while lawmakers continue their fight over border enforcement, immigration policy and the department’s long-term budget.
