Trump Signs Executive Order to Pay TSA Workers as Funding Stalls in Congress
Washington, D.C. - Mar. 27, 2026 - President Trump signed an executive order to pay Transportation Security Administration workers, a White House official said, bypassing a gridlocked Congress after the latest proposal to fund the broader Department of Homeland Security ran aground Friday.
The move, which Trump had previewed a day earlier, came as House Republican leaders rejected a Senate-passed bill that would fund most of DHS, including TSA. A long-running standoff in Congress over immigration enforcement has led to missed paychecks for airport security workers and long lines for travelers.
Early Friday morning, the GOP-led Senate agreed in a voice vote to approve legislation to fund all of DHS through the end of the fiscal year—except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The measure would provide funding for an assortment of programs, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But the legislation quickly ran into objections in the House over the lack of immigration-enforcement funding. Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) told GOP colleagues that the House wouldn’t vote on the Senate bill and instead look to pass a measure that would fund all of DHS for eight weeks and provide back pay for government workers.