In a significant move, the Senate in the early hours of Friday approved a funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security, ensuring that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents and most other agencies receive their pay. However, the package does not extend to immigration enforcement operations, which have been central to the budget deadlock causing airport chaos, travel disruptions, and financial distress for federal workers.
The Senate passed the funding plan unanimously, bypassing a formal roll call, and it now heads to the House for consideration, expected later on Friday.
“This step allows us to reopen a significant portion of the government and then address the remaining issues,” commented Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “There remains more work to be done,” he added.
As the 42-day funding standoff concerning the Department of Homeland Security intensified, the urgency to resolve it grew, particularly with TSA employees facing another missed paycheck. President Donald Trump indicated he would promptly sign an order to compensate TSA agents, aiming to alleviate the “Chaos at the Airports.” Notably, the agreement lacks the restrictions Democrats demanded to curb Trump’s extensive deportation policies.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer reflected on the situation, suggesting a resolution could have been reached earlier. He vowed that Democrats would persist in their efforts to ensure that Trump’s “rogue” immigration agenda does not receive additional funding without substantial reform.
Details of the funding package reveal that while the deal secures funding for much of the department—including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, and the TSA—it withholds funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Customs has its funding secured, but Border Protection remains unfunded.
The package puts no new limits on immigration enforcement, which has remained largely uninterrupted by the shutdown. The GOP’s 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.
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.
Conservative Republicans have panned their own party’s 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’s agenda.
“We will fully fund ICE. That is what this fight is about,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said as he tried to offer legislation to fund the agency. “The border is closing. The next task is deportation.”
On-again, off-again talks collapsed
Earlier Thursday, Thune announced he had given a “last and final” offer to the Democrats. But as the day dragged on, action stalled out.
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.
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’s homes or private spaces – something new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he is open to considering.
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’ IDs.
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’s 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’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
If the Senate package is approved by the House and signed into law, the action Trump announced to pay TSA agents would not be needed.
Airport lines grow as TSA workers endure hardships
The funding shutdown has resulted in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers missing paychecks stop coming to work.
Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of the agency’s 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.
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 “that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.”
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 hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.
“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”
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