WASHINGTON 鈥� President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would sign an emergency order to pay Transportation Security Administration agents who have gone without compensation for weeks, as senators struggled to strike a homeland security funding deal that could end the intensifying crisis at airports.
Trump did not provide any details, but the administration was expected to use funds provided to the Department of 91直播land Security last year as part of his tax cut and domestic policy law, according to a senior administration official and another person familiar with the plan, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it.
No executive order, emergency or otherwise, would be required to access those funds, which were enacted into law last summer, but Trump appeared eager to claim credit for releasing them. It was not clear why he had waited more than five weeks after the Department of 91直播land Security was shuttered to direct that they be used to pay TSA employees.
Travelers are facing long waits at airport security checkpoints, in some cases more than two hours, as the partial shutdown continues. About 50,000 TSA personnel have been working without pay for over a month, and hundreds have quit or stopped appearing for work.
As lawmakers have struggled to come up with a deal to fund the department, Trump and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly blamed Democrats for depriving TSA agents of their pay. Democrats had been pressing to separately fund TSA for weeks, an approach that Republicans rejected time and time again after Department of 91直播land Security funding lapsed on Feb. 14.
But until Thursday, neither side had wanted to budge on money for TSA 鈥� the part of the department that most visibly affects Americans鈥� daily lives 鈥� as each sought leverage in a broader dispute over Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown. That fight began last month when, following the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents, Democrats refused to fund the Department of 91直播land Security without measures to rein in enforcement tactics.
With long lines at airports ahead of a prime spring travel weekend, and with lawmakers eager to compromise ahead of a two-week congressional recess, Senate Democrats and Republicans had stepped up their efforts in recent days to reach a funding deal, and spent Thursday haggling over the terms.
Yet as the pace of conversations picked up on Capitol Hill, there was still no sign of a compromise by evening, which Trump acknowledged in a social media post announcing his plan.
鈥淚 am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of 91直播land Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation,鈥� he said.
He lashed out at Democrats, who he said had 鈥渞ecklessly created a true National Crisis鈥� by refusing to fund the Department of 91直播land Security. And he said he had been moved to intervene personally.
鈥淚t is not an easy thing to do,鈥� Trump said, 鈥渂ut I am going to do it!鈥�
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican, acknowledged that senators, who have traditionally fought to preserve their power of the purse, 鈥渨ould have preferred to get this done here on the floor of the United States Senate.鈥�
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the majority leader, called Trump鈥檚 announcement a 鈥渟hort-term solution,鈥� suggesting that Republicans would keep pressing to reach a broader deal.
鈥淥bviously we want to fund everything within鈥� the 91直播land Security Department, he said.
Democrats slammed Trump鈥檚 intervention, saying they would continue pressing for immigration enforcement changes. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said that lawmakers still needed to negotiate a funding bill.
鈥淚 am glad that this administration has finally chosen to pay these workers, after choosing not to for 41 days,鈥� she said in a statement. 鈥淭he administration must provide an explanation as to what funding it is using to pay these workers after falsely claiming it could not do so.鈥�
Republicans on Thursday morning sent Democrats what Thune called 鈥渙ur last and final鈥� offer. It would have funded the department without money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement鈥檚 deportation and detention operations.
But Democrats have continued to insist that any spending measure still include limits on federal immigration agents, and contain guardrails to prevent funds from be moved from other parts of the department to be used for immigration enforcement efforts.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., hinted that the talks were making headway, saying that the 鈥渂ack-and-forth鈥� was continuing between the two parties.
鈥淚 think the good news is that there is very broad agreement that we have to fund TSA,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he bad news is that there鈥檚 not yet agreement on exactly how to fund DHS without Democrats funding ICE, and we鈥檙e trying to get clarity on exactly what that looks like.鈥�
The negotiating was happening in closed-door meetings and in public, as bipartisan groups of senators huddled in the Senate chamber to discuss the shape of a potential deal. Still, by Thursday evening, optimism had faded.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., looked glum when he was asked whether lawmakers had made progress on negotiations.
鈥淣o,鈥� he said, shaking his head before heading to the Senate floor.
Earlier Thursday, the House separately voted to pass a bill to fully fund the 91直播land Security Department, the third time in two months that the chamber had done so. Four Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill, which passed 218-206.
Still, a funding bill remains stalled in the Senate, where 60 votes are required for major legislation to move forward.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., had said he would push for a separate bill that would fund just the TSA. And before Trump鈥檚 announcement, officials had been weighing whether they could find a way to pay TSA agents by using funds that Republicans gave the department last year as part of their sweeping tax and domestic policy bill.
That measure handed a slush fund to ICE, and billions more to the rest of the Department of 91直播land Security with few limitations, including $10 billion for 鈥渂order support.鈥�
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, told reporters on Thursday that the Office of Management and Budget had determined that Trump had the authority to use the funds in the law to pay TSA workers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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