Trump has ordered TSA workers be paid, regardless of what Congress does. Here’s what we know

By Tami Luhby, Kaitlan Collins, CNN

(CNN) — With Congress’ debate over Department of Homeland Security funding now likely to extend for at least several more days, President Donald Trump on Friday issued a promised executive action that Transportation Security Administration employees be paid immediately.

“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 TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown, consistent with applicable law,” the president wrote.

How that would work, exactly, is largely unclear. But TSA workers could start seeing their paychecks as soon as Monday, according to DHS.

Some context: Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are missing their second full paycheck after funding for DHS, TSA’s parent agency, lapsed on February 14. The impasse has led to thousands of officers calling out and more than 500 quitting, resulting in massive security screening delays at airports nationwide in recent weeks.

As talks to end the partial government shutdown broke down on Capitol Hill Thursday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was “going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation.”

Hours later, the Senate moved to fund most of the department, including TSA, though not immigration enforcement and border patrol. But House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday derided that measure as “a joke” and said he would put forth his own short-term spending bill that would fully fund the agency for eight weeks. Johnson noted Trump’s move would pay the TSA, and he asserted he had the president’s support.

Here’s what we currently know:

Where is the money coming from?

Two people familiar with the plans said DHS planned to use funding from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda package that he signed last summer. The executive action didn’t specify that, instead more broadly calling for the use of money with “a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations.”

The “big, beautiful bill” provided DHS with $10 billion that can be used to support the agency’s mission to safeguard US borders, Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told CNN. He suspects the administration will tap into this pot of money to fund TSA employees’ pay — even though TSA is not mentioned anywhere in the legislation.

Notably, the bill gives the DHS secretary the power to deem what activities support safeguarding the border, said Rachel Snyderman, managing director of the economic program at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The provision doesn’t specify that the funds should be used by a particular division within DHS.

DHS is using other money from the package to pay certain employees during the shutdown. The package provided DHS with a $165 billion infusion, funneling $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $64 billion to Customs and Border Protection.

Paychecks for sworn law enforcement officers in ICE, CBP and the US Secret Service, as well as for US Coast Guard military personnel, are currently being funded by the bill, according to a senior administration official. Other positions that work on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security priorities, such as technology specialists and attorneys, are also being paid during the shutdown through the legislation, the official said.

Does Trump have the authority to do this?

In the executive action, Trump said any moves should follow the federal law that says, “Appropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law.”

Still, Kogan said he didn’t think the maneuver was legal. But “that’s not going to stop them,” he added.

He pointed out that the administration used Pentagon research and development funds to pay the military during the fall shutdown.

Why did Trump wait so long?

That’s the key question.

“My question is: If he can do it, why didn’t he do it before?” Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that focuses on improving the federal government, told CNN. “This has been a problem for over a month now.”

The situation at certain airports, particularly in Atlanta and Houston, has become increasingly dire in recent weeks. Travelers have been forced to wait for hours to go through TSA security checkpoints, with the lines stretching outside the terminals.

Earlier this week, Trump ordered ICE agents be deployed at 14 major airports to assist TSA agents.

When will TSA employees be paid?

According to DHS, TSA staffers could see money hit their bank accounts as soon as Monday. The agency sent messages to TSA officers on Friday informing them they should “expect most of their backpay in their direct deposit starting on Monday, March 30.” CNN has viewed the message.

The agency also said that “all employees must return to work on their next scheduled workday,” starting on Saturday.

In the last shutdown, it took 14 to 30 days — and, in some cases, even longer — for workers to receive all of their back pay, TSA union leaders have said.

The current shutdown has placed a huge financial burden on many TSA employees, leaving them struggling to pay for food, housing, gas, child care and other essentials.

Workers have missed more than $1 billion in pay because of the shutdown, acting TSA administration Ha Nguyen McNeill testified at a House hearing on Wednesday.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers, said he is “grateful that action was taken” to pay employees.

But, he noted, there are thousands of other DHS employees, including at the US Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency, who are still going without pay.

“These workers and their families cannot wait,” Kelley said in a statement Thursday night. “All DHS workers must be paid immediately.”

Also, TSA staffing levels at airports likely won’t return to full strength until workers receive their back pay, union leaders told reporters.

What’s happening on Capitol Hill?

The Senate passed a bill in a rare overnight session early Friday morning that would fund most of DHS, but not ICE and only part of CBP. The measure did not include the immigration enforcement reforms that Senate Democrats have been demanding in the wake of the shooting deaths of two US citizens during an immigration surge in Minneapolis earlier this year.

But House GOP leaders rebuffed that legislation and opted instead to press for fully funding DHS on a short-term basis, setting up a battle with the Senate.

The House version is dead on arrival in that chamber, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Friday afternoon.

Lawmakers are racing against the clock since Congress has an upcoming two-week Easter and Passover recess scheduled.

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