This article has been updated.
The House passed a measure late Friday night to fund the Department of Homeland Security through May 22. However, the ongoing partial government shutdown remains unresolved because the House 60-day funding measure must go to the Senate, which is currently on recess. The Senate had previously passed a different bill funding DHS, excluding ICE and parts of CBP.
Early Friday morning, the Senate passed a measure to approve funding for most of DHS, the first step to breaking the impasse that had led to the partial government shutdown that has left Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees going unpaid for weeks and creating delays at airports around the country.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the House version of the funding bill would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate, so it appears doubtful that the impasse will get resolved even when Congress returns from its recess.
Many unpaid TSA employees have been calling in sick, while others have quit, causing delays at airport security lines. These delays have been exacerbated by more passengers flying for spring break travel.
The Senate measure excluded funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), reflecting ongoing partisan disputes over immigration enforcement that led to the partial shutdown. However, both of these agencies already received billions in funding through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year.
President Trump issued a directive ordering the DHS secretary to pay TSA employees amid the shutdown. In his memo, he framed the delays at airports around the country as a national security emergency that forced him to take independent action.
DHS said that TSA employees should begin getting paid as early as Monday, March 30.
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley said in a statement about the situation, “I have never been more disgusted by the failure of elected leadership in my life. Though TSA officers will be paid, FEMA workers, Coast Guard, CISA, and other DHS employees are waiting on their back pay.”
He added, “And Congress left them without a paycheck and went on a two-week paid vacation on our dime.”
