Tensions are rising in the House as a group of staunch conservative Republicans has disrupted the progress of a Senate-approved funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), potentially leading to significant delays for travelers across the nation.
Speaker Mike Johnson, alongside the influential House Freedom Caucus, which includes supporters of former President Donald Trump, has dismissed the Senate’s late-night approval of the bill. The primary point of contention is the omission of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“The maneuver that took place last night was laughable,” Johnson stated, criticizing the Senate’s approach. “We intend to pursue a different course of action.”
This disagreement highlights a growing divide between Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who leans towards a more moderate stance, and his more conservative Republican counterparts in the House.
The ongoing dispute is set to affect the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, who are likely to miss another paycheck this Friday. This comes as the 42-day funding deadlock for the DHS threatens to extend into the following week, coinciding with the busy Easter travel period.
In response, Johnson is reportedly promoting a proposal backed by Trump, which would maintain current DHS funding levels for an additional 60 days. However, with the Senate currently adjourned, this new initiative will remain in limbo until lawmakers reconvene in Washington.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Johnson’s plan was ‘dead on arrival.’
Meanwhile, Trump said on Thursday he’d order newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to find cash to pay TSA workers in a gambit to calm US travelers.
Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds told reporters Friday that the Senate-backed bill was a ‘turd sandwich.’
Congress appeared poised to pass funding for TSA workers on Friday before some hardline Republican’s rejected their Senate counterpart’s proposal
The rupture lays bare a rift between the more moderate Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his Republican colleagues in the House
US Airport wait times have exploded due to a shortage of TSA workers. Around 500 TSA workers have quit during the partial government shutdown, which began on February 14
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris said: ‘The only thing we’re going to support is adding that [ICE] funding into the bill, adding voter ID, sending it back to the Senate, making them come back in and do their work.’
Homeland Security Secretary Mullin has yet to act, as Congress appeared poised to pass funding until House Republicans rejected the Senate’s bill on Friday.
Complicating the plan is the need for members of Congress to stay in DC and vote on the new proposal.
Many members of the House and Senate have already fled DC to return home for the Easter break, which is supposed to last until mid-April.
Should the House vote on the 60-day proposal on Friday or over the weekend, the Senate would be forced to return to the capital to pass the House plan before the bill could be signed by Trump for the funding to be approved.
It could take several days for the House’s proposal to receive a vote; it could take even more time for the Senate to return to DC and then vote on the new proposal.
Meanwhile, airport wait times are expected to remain long and TSA workers will continue to be unpaid.
Democrats voted against DHS funding in February in opposition to providing more funds for Trump’s immigration agenda. The Senate compromised by authoring a bill providing funding for the many branches of DHS except ICE.
Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One en route to Mar-a-Lago at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Friday
Passengers stand in line at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday
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.
Trump’s order would draw on funds from his 2025 tax bill to pay TSA agents, a senior administration official said.
Should the House pass the package and send it to Trump’s desk, his executive order to pay TSA agents could prove short-lived or unnecessary.
The funding shutdown has resulted in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers who are missing paychecks stop coming to work.
Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40 percent 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 percent of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union was grateful workers would be paid but demanded Congress stay in session to pass a deal ‘that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running.’
A TSA office at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday
Melissa Gates, stranded at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, said she had waited more than two hours without reaching the security checkpoint and missed her flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with no alternative available until Friday.
‘I should have just driven, right?’ Gates said. ‘Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.’
