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The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.<\/p>\n
The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we\u2019ll go from there,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. \u201cObviously, we\u2019ll still have some work ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
With pressure mounting to resolve the 42-day stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the endgame emerged in the final hours before TSA workers miss another paycheck Friday. President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the \u201cChaos at the Airports.\u201d The deal did not include any of the restraints Democrats have demanded as they sought to rein in Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda.<\/p>\n
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the outcome could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump\u2019s \u201crogue\u201d immigration operation \u201cdoes not get more funding without serious reform.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Senators worked through the night on the deal that would fund much of the rest of the department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and TSA, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Customs was funded, but Border Protection was not.<\/p>\n
The package puts no new limits on immigration enforcement, which has remained largely uninterrupted by the shutdown. The GOP\u2019s big tax cuts bill that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions in extra funds to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid despite the lapse.<\/p>\n
Next steps in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a slim majority, are uncertain. Passage will almost certainly require bipartisan support, as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt.<\/p>\n
Conservative Republicans have panned their own party\u2019s proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations. Many have vowed to ensure ICE has the resources it needs in the next budget package to carry out Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will fully fund ICE. That is what this fight is about,\u201d Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said as he tried to offer legislation to fund the agency. \u201cThe border is closing. The next task is deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier Thursday, Thune announced he had given a \u201clast and final\u201d offer to the Democrats. But as the day dragged on, action stalled out.<\/p>\n
Democrats argued the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies who are engaged in the immigration sweeps, particularly after the deaths of two Americans protesting the actions in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
They want federal agents to wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places. Democrats have also pushed for an end of administrative warrants, insisting that judges sign off before agents search people\u2019s homes or private spaces \u2014 something new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he is open to considering.<\/p>\n
Trump had largely left the issue to Congress, but warned he was ready to take action, threatening to send the National Guard to airports in addition to his deployment of ICE agents who are now checking travelers\u2019 IDs.<\/p>\n
The White House had floated the extraordinary move of invoking a national emergency to pay the TSA agents, a politically and legally fraught approach. Instead, Trump\u2019s order would pay TSA agents using money from his 2025 tax bill, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren\u2019t authorized to discuss it publicly.<\/p>\n
If the Senate package is approved by the House and signed it into law, the action Trump announced to pay TSA agents may be temporary or unneeded.<\/p>\n
The funding shutdown has resulted in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers missing paychecks stop coming to work.<\/p>\n
Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of the agency\u2019s nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.<\/p>\n
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union is grateful the TSA workers will be paid, but said Congress must stay in session to pass a deal \u201cthat funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.\u201d<\/p>\n
At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Melissa Gates said she would not make her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after waiting more than 2\u00bd hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have just driven, right?\u201d Gates said. \u201cFive hours would have been hilarious next to this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking, Rebecca Santana, Collin Binkley and Ben Finley, Lekan Oyekanmi, Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Rio Yamat, Russ Bynum, and Gabriela Aoun Angueira contributed to this report.<\/p>\n