President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that he will sign an executive order to pay thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers after negotiations over Department of Homeland Security funding stalled out.
“Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Therefore, I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump wrote. “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”
It is not yet clear what pool of money DHS will draw from to cut the paychecks, but the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that the White House was considering whether to invoke the National Emergencies Act and circumvent Congress.
Trump himself had hinted at a Cabinet meeting that he might take “very drastic measures” if senators, engaged in weeks of negotiations over DHS funding, could not reach a deal. The administration has already used discretionary funding to pay members of the Coast Guard who also fall under DHS. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meanwhile, continues to stay afloat with money allocated under the tax law the president signed last year.
Trump’s decision to divert money to TSA, which has faced chronic staffing shortages at airports across the country, likely means the partial shutdown will break the 43-day record set in 2025. Senators signaled they will keep negotiating despite the announcement, but wait times at those airports had become the single greatest pressure point in funding talks.
At the center of the dispute is how to fund ICE after the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis. Senate Republicans agreed to leave around $5 billion earmarked for removal operations unfunded as a concession to Democrats, with further legislative tweaks made in an offer sent on Thursday morning. But Democrats have so far held out for a bigger compromise and have been seeking reforms to federal officer conduct.
The latest GOP offer includes money for body cameras and de-escalation training, but Democrats want concessions Republicans ruled out early on, including a ban on agents wearing face masks. They’ve also asked for several changes the White House offered in an earlier proposal, including limits on raids at sensitive sites like schools. Those reforms were taken off the table when Republicans offered to exempt the removal operations.
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TSA workers were set to miss another paycheck on Friday, prompting Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) to threaten a “unanimous consent” request on the Senate floor that would have provided targeted funding to those employees. The measure, should it have passed, would have then needed to clear the House.
Republicans have until now resisted a piecemeal approach to funding DHS and on Thursday accused Democrats of “moving the goal posts” in Senate negotiations. Democrats say they’re negotiating in good faith and questioned Trump’s ability to declare a national emergency to provide TSA paychecks.
