Trump signs order to pay TSA workers after House GOP rejects deal to end shutdown. ‘America’s air travel system has reached its end’ | Good luck

Trump signed the act with an eye toward easing long security lines at many of the nation’s airports.

“America’s air travel system has come to an end,” Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments. He added, “I realized that this situation is an emergency situation that endangers the safety of the Nation.”

Trump said his administration would use “funds that have a reasonable and reasonable connection to TSA operations” for the payments. In a statement Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said TSA workers “should start seeing paychecks as soon as Monday.”

While Trump’s action may help ease air travelers’ woes, it does little to address the DHS shutdown that has crippled airports and caused thousands of government workers financial hardship. The House and Senate ended the week by passing very different bills, creating new confusion as lawmakers leave Washington for a two-week recess.

The Homeland Security shutdown will reach 44 days on Sunday, surpassing the 43-day shutdown last fall that affected the entire federal government.

House Republicans reject the Senate deal

The Senate passed the budget deal early Friday, but pushback from House Republicans came quickly. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, opening the chamber of commerce, accused the Democrats of playing a dangerous game and said he needs to talk to other Republicans about how to proceed.

After a long conference call, Johnson criticized the Senate’s action and announced that the House would go the other way. “This play last night is a joke,” Johnson said.

Instead, the House on Friday night passed a bill to fund the entire department until May 22. The vote was 213-203. Johnson said he spoke to Trump about the House Republican plan and the president supported it.

House Republicans clarified that the bill passed by the Senate does not support Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Democrats have refused to fund those departments without changes to immigration enforcement.

“We’re going to do something different,” Johnson said. He challenged the Senate to take up the House’s interim Homeland Security amendment in May.

But the senators left town after voting to support the DHS measure, so it would take time for them to return once the House passes a different measure. Even if they were to return, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer made it clear that the House GOP plan “will die in the Senate, and Republicans know it.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Senate-passed bill would clear the House on Republican and Democratic votes if Johnson allows it to be voted on.

“This can and should end today,” Jeffries said.

What about the Senate compromise

Senators worked through the night to approve a bill on a voice vote that would support most of Homeland Security, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the TSA.

Senate Republicans said they were disappointed by the lack of funding for ICE and the Border Patrol, but noted that immigration enforcement remained unabated. That’s because the massive GOP tax cut bill that Trump signed into law last year added billions of dollars in additional funding to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations.

Conservative Republicans, however, were against creating a model that allows Congress during the annual appropriations process to fund some agencies within Homeland Security, but not others.

“We will fully support ICE. That’s what this fight is about,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. “The border is closing. The next task is deportation.”

Democrats have refused to provide funding for ICE and the Border Patrol after the deaths of two Americans who were protesting an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

They want government agents to wear identification, remove face masks and refrain from attacking schools, churches or other sensitive areas. Democrats have also pushed for an end to executive warrants, insisting that judges recuse themselves before agents search people’s homes or private properties — something Mullin, the new DHS secretary, said he is willing to consider.

Differences in Republican leadership

The Senate’s rejection of the deal creates a notable rift between Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., many of whom have worked closely with this Congress to try to implement Trump’s agenda.

With all Democrats opposed, Thune had to find a solution to the budget crisis that would win the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate 53-47.

After more than a week of intense negotiations — some involving the White House — the two sides agreed on Friday to first defund most of the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE and parts of CBP. It passed on a voice vote with no opposition from either side just after 2 am

When asked if he canceled the deal with Johnson, Thune said the two texted.

“I don’t know what the House will do,” Thune said.

The White House remained silent as senators considered the compromise, and Trump did not speak publicly.

The next day, as the deal collapsed in the House, Thune did not respond to Johnson’s comments that he had been left in the dark.

The speaker, when asked about the conflict with Thune, said that the Democrats in the Senate are to blame for this situation.

Airport calls increase as TSA agents deal with problems

The DHS shutdown has caused travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as many underpaid TSA employees have stopped going to work. Those workers endured the nation’s longest government shutdown last year.

Many airports have seen cuts of more than 40% of TSA workers, and about 500 of the roughly 50,000 transportation security officers have resigned during the shutdown. Nationally on Thursday, more than 11.8% of scheduled TSA employees missed work, according to DHS. That’s over 3,450 callouts.