Delta this week cancelled special boarding services for lawmakers such as allowing them to bypass security lines, underscoring broad frustration with political gridlock manifesting in jammed up travel. Image: Nathan Posner/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek StaffSenate Democrats and Republicans have agreed to a deal funding most of DHS through September, offering a path to end a now 42 day standoff in which TSA screeners increasingly called out sick and hundreds quit, snarling airports for hours at some major hubs ahead of a busy spring vacation travel period.
However, on Friday House Republicans pushed back as Congress was readying to leave for a two-week recess. They appeared ready to offer an alternative bill that funds the entire department for 8 weeks and includes voter ID legislation – leaving open the prospect for no deal and Congress heading home, some through Regan International airport a short ride from the Capitol.
That prompted President Trump to sign an executive order paying around 60,000 TSA employees – 50,000 of them screeners. ” I hereby direct the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown,” said the EO, citing low morale and about 500 workers having quit.
The Senate measure – approved by voice vote around 2AM Friday morning – would fund DHS through September, including FEMA and the Coast Guard but excludes additional funding for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. Much of ICE and CBP have continued operations under funding provided last July – but that does not entirely cover all personnel in those agencies or related components who also have gone without pay.
“Congress needs to continue working to pass a real, bipartisan appropriations deal that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running — even if that means canceling their upcoming vacation,” said AFGE president Evertt Kelley, calling on Congress to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act “so that no politician, of either party, can ever hold a public servant’s paycheck hostage again.” (That proposed bill would guarantee timely pay for “excepted” federal employees, some contractors and active duty military during a shutdown.)
The Senate had failed to advance the shutdown-ending measure several times Thursday, falling short of a 60-vote threshold needed. The worsening situation had led President Trump to propose paying TSA workers on an emergency basis. (And Delta this week cancelled special boarding services for lawmakers such as allowing them to bypass security lines, underscoring broad frustration with political gridlock manifesting in jammed up travel.)
Thousands of DHS employees missed their first full pay check last Friday, leading some to begin leaning on food banks, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.
“That’s nearly a month of uncertainty where these frontline employees have had to wonder whether they’ll be able to pay their mortgage or buy groceries; a month of not knowing how long this shutdown will last,” NTEU president Doreen Greenwald in a letter to lawmakers this week. “Yet even with such uncertainty hanging over their heads, they still come to work every day to keep our country safe.”
Meanwhile, ICE and CBP agents had deployed to over a dozen large airports in recent days to assist with non-screening functions such as managing long lines, and providing a conspicuous presence. The House is expected to vote as early as Friday on the measure.
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