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As lawmakers reconvene in Washington this week, the unresolved issue of future compensation for employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including those in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), remains a critical obstacle in resolving the ongoing partial government shutdown.
The deadlock stems from a pre-Easter recess disagreement, where Senate Republicans pushed forward a proposal to finance the majority of DHS operations. However, this initiative was thwarted by House Republicans, leaving Congress without a consensus as they adjourned.
The prolonged shutdown had begun to severely impact airport operations across the country, escalating demands for a resolution. In response, President Trump mitigated some of this pressure by signing an executive order instructing DHS to find funds to retroactively compensate TSA employees for their work since the shutdown started on February 14. A similar directive was issued a week later to ensure back pay for the rest of the department’s staff.
This intervention alleviated the political tension somewhat, as TSA officers saw their paychecks resume and security checkpoint wait times decreased with more employees returning to duty.
However, questions linger over whether Trump’s directive will cover upcoming pay periods, raising the possibility that TSA workers might face another stint of unpaid work. This uncertainty could potentially reignite urgency among lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they seek a resolution after eight weeks without DHS funding.
Before the recess, long lines at security checkpoints and flight delays pushed Senate Republicans to move forward with a deal that Democrats supported, even as the House blocked its passage.
Travel disruptions became impossible to ignore as TSA officers, forced to work without pay, stopped showing up at record rates, creating hours-long lines at airports that wrapped around terminals.
At the peak of the shutdown, on March 27, the national call-out rate among TSA officers was 12.35 percent, while some airports reported nearly half of their workforce absent on certain days, according to DHS.
But the call-out rate dropped significantly after Trump signed an executive order granting back pay. On Easter Sunday, 7.98 percent of TSA employees called out from work nationwide, with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport reporting the highest rate of 24.6 percent.
That reprieve may be short-lived, however, as TSA officers say they don’t know if they will receive future paychecks if Congress does not restore funding.
In the presidential directive, Trump ordered DHS to provide TSA employees “with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown,” leaving unanswered the question of future pay for the officers.
Trump’s order for the rest of DHS included the same language.
In a memo Monday, DHS warned employees that the paycheck they received over the weekend could be their last until Congress restores funding.
The department said the April 10 paycheck would include back pay for time worked during the shutdown through April 4, but added, “Any additional compensation owed to you will be paid once DHS funding is restored.”
It remains unclear whether that memo applies to TSA officers. While TSA officers received the memo — according to a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents most of the agency’s workforce — later reports cited an administration official saying the memo does not apply to them.
Without certainty about future paychecks, TSA officers may again be forced to take on second jobs, leaving airports without the staffing needed to keep operations running smoothly.
“There is a feeling of increasing anxiety and uncertainty among officers as the chaos and confusion for workers just trying to get by continues,” the AFGE spokesperson said.
On top of the risk of renewed airport disruptions, intraparty feuding among Republicans could further complicate efforts to reopen the department.
Over the two-week recess, Republicans appeared to make some progress in bridging the divide between the chambers. After initially calling the Senate GOP plan a “joke,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shifted his position.
On April 1, the House Speaker joined Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) in publicly backing a two-step plan that would separate funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, as Democrats have refused to vote for such legislation without first securing reforms to immigration enforcement tactics.
Republicans would then use the special budget reconciliation process — whose requirement of a simple-majority vote would allow the GOP to bypass a Democratic filibuster — to pass immigration and border enforcement funding.
Trump set a June 1 deadline for Congress to send him that bill.
But hope for a quick solution to end the funding impasse seemed to diminish this past week after the conservative House Freedom Caucus came out against the GOP plan, calling instead to fully fund DHS in a GOP-only budget reconciliation bill. They argued that separating out immigration and border enforcement — as the Democrats have demanded — would set a bad precedent for future negotiations.
“We will never hand Democrats their ultimate prize: A defunded ICE, handcuffed CBP, and criminal aliens terrorizing our communities,” the Freedom Caucus said.