The Senate approved a compromise measure early Friday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security through the end of September, moving closer to ending a 42-day partial shutdown that has disrupted air travel nationwide and driven hundreds of airport security workers to quit after missing paychecks.

The agreement was passed by voice vote before senators left Washington for a two-week recess and is expected to be taken up by the House later Friday.

The deal does not include any of the conditions Democrats had pushed for regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including proposals to prevent agents from wearing masks and to impose stricter warrant requirements for detaining illegal migrants.

It also does not allocate new funding for ICE or Border Patrol. However, both agencies had already received billions in funding under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump in July, allowing immigration enforcement operations to continue despite the shutdown.

Even so, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed a political victory for Democrats.

“In the wake of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Democrats were clear: No blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged the shortcomings of the agreement while emphasizing the urgency of reopening government functions.

“The Dems wanted reforms,” Thune said, according to Politico. “We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms but, you know, we’re going to have to fight some of those battles another day.”

“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” he added.

The Senate action came just hours after President Trump said he would intervene to ensure Transportation Security Administration agents receive paychecks, as many were on the verge of missing a second full pay period.

That announcement followed another failed Senate vote, where most Democrats again blocked consideration of a DHS funding bill.

“Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.

“I am 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, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!,” he wrote.

Trump had indicated earlier in the week that he might take more aggressive action if the stalemate in Congress continued, including potentially deploying the National Guard to assist at airports.

According to a senior administration official, the planned order would use funds from Trump’s 2025 tax legislation to temporarily pay TSA personnel.

If the House approves the Senate measure and it is signed into law, the emergency action may no longer be necessary.

The impact of the shutdown has already been severe. Nearly 500 airport screeners have resigned since Feb. 14, while absentee rates have surged into the double digits—far above the roughly 2% rate seen before funding lapsed, according to acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill.

As a result, some airports have seen security wait times stretch beyond four and a half hours, the longest in the agency’s history.

It remains unclear how quickly conditions will improve if funding is restored.

To help manage the backlog, ICE agents have been deployed to more than a dozen airports, assisting with ID checks and crowd control, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

{Matzav.com}