Trump directs DHS to pay TSA officers, blames Democrats
It came after DHS funding, including for TSA, hit a roadblock in Congress.
President Donald Trump on Friday signed a a directive ordering the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin issuing paychecks to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has left DHS without regular appropriations, and workers without paychecks, for more than a month.
The action, which came via a presidential memorandum, directs Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds “which have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations" to pay TSA workers.
A senior administration official told ABC News on Thursday that TSA officers would be paid with funds already approved by Congress through the sweeping domestic policy bill signed into law by the president last summer.
That bill allocated over $190 billion to DHS through 2029, including a massive $75 billion injection into ICE.
Trump’s order comes a day after he announced on social media that he would take executive action to pay TSA officers as long airport security lines continue to plague travelers across the country.
On Friday, Trump criticized Senate Republicans for striking a deal with Democrats overnight to separate out funding for other agencies under DHS from Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB), telling Fox News in a phone interview that the deal “wasn’t appropriate.”
“In my opinion, you can't have a bill that’s not going to fund ICE. You can't have a bill that's not going to fund any form of law enforcement, of which ICE is a big form, and so is Border Patrol,” Trump said.
Trump has since repeated his call to eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold to pass a funding bill, writing on social media Friday that “Republicans should TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and VOTE!"
The Department of Homeland Security said that TSA workers will start seeing their paychecks on Monday March 30.
"Today, at the direction of President Trump and the Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, TSA has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce,” a DHS spokesperson said. "TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday, March 30. TSA is grateful to the President and Secretary for their leadership to put money back into the pockets of TSA employees who worked without pay during the ongoing Democrat DHS shutdown.”
TSA workers workers were sent a text alert that said effective March 28, "all employees must return to work on their next scheduled workday."
ABC News' Luke Barr and Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.
Related Topics
Popular Reads
ABC News Live