President Trump issued a memo on Friday directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pay all agency employees amid the ongoing partial government shutdown that has caused some federal employees to work without their regular paychecks.
As he did when ordering TSA employees to be paid last week, the president said the situation constitutes a national security emergency.
He wrote in the memo:
As President of the United States, I have determined that these circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security. Accordingly, I hereby direct the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS to provide each and every employee of DHS with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown, consistent with applicable law, including 31 U.S.C. 1301(a).
Once regular funding for DHS has been restored, every effort should be made, as authorized by law, to adjust applicable funding accounts within DHS to ensure the continuation of DHS operations and activities consistent with planned expenditures prior to the lapse.
Trump teased the move yesterday in a post on Truth Social when he wrote, “…I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long…”
Last week, he signed a memo to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees. According to DHS, TSA employees began receiving their paychecks this week on Monday, March 30.
His memo last week stated that the long wait times at airport security lines around the country had “reached untenable lengths of three or more hours” and that, combined with declining morale of TSA staff, “heighten[ed] the risk of security vulnerabilities within our domestic travel system and has negatively impacted countless Americans.”
Consequently, he determined it was necessary to direct DHS to pay TSA employees because the situation had created an emergency situation that compromised the country’s security.
This article has been updated.
