Trump signs executive order to pay TSA workers after House rejects funding bill

President Trump signed an executive action on Friday that will pay Transportation Security Administration employees. The move comes after a deal that sought to do the same stalled in Congress.

Trump’s action came after House Republicans rejected a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security. This revolt risks delaying a resolution to the funding impasse, which is now in its 42nd day. The partial government shutdown has created long lines at many of the nation’s airports.

“America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments. He added, “I have determined that these circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security.”

In a statement on Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said TSA workers “should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday.”

Trump’s order will pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. They compared the move to the actions Trump took during a past shutdown to pay troops. The rationale is that Democrats have created an emergency by declining to approve funding, the official said.

Senators stayed late on Thursday night trying to resolve the remaining issues before they leave DC for spring break. GOP leaders were preparing a package to fund as much of the rest of DHS as possible, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, as well as the immigration enforcement agencies central to the standoff.

Democrats have demanded restraints on Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations as part of any deal to fund Homeland Security. They are particularly refusing to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection divisions, though they had repeatedly offered proposals to pay TSA and the rest of DHS.