President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform Thursday that he will sign an executive order directing newly sworn-in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers immediately, calling the ongoing DHS shutdown an “Emergency Situation.”
Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting earlier Thursday, Trump warned he might have to take “drastic measures” unless the shutdown ended soon. It is unclear what legal authority the president is invoking; Congress holds the “power of the purse” and generally controls federal funding.
A senior administration official said TSA officers will be paid using money already approved by Congress through the legislation dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) that Trump signed last summer. “Money provided by President Trump’s OBBB will be used to pay TSA,” the official said.
During the last government shutdown, the Trump administration also shifted funds to keep some payments flowing. For example, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay roughly 2 million service members; the Pentagon later said about $8 billion came from the Department of Defense’s research, development and testing budget and that the funds were “unobligated” from the prior fiscal year. Members of the Coast Guard, which falls under DHS, also received paychecks during the last shutdown, and then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said those funds came from the One Big Beautiful Bill.
It remains unclear whether Trump’s forthcoming order will result in a one-time payment, when TSA officers would receive money, or what the funds were originally designated for.
The announcement came as lawmakers continued to wrangle over DHS funding on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that Democrats had been given Republicans’ “last and final” offer to reopen DHS as Congress prepared to leave for a two-week recess on Friday. A test vote on the Senate floor failed, 53-47, short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso said, “We’ve given the Democrats the opportunity to come to the table. They have not. And now, time is up.”
Democrats said talks were ongoing. “Our legislative director is literally meeting and passing paper back and forth as we speak,” Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz told reporters. “It’s just not true that we’re not in negotiation. It may be that that one person or the other has lost patience, and you know, that would be too bad, but we’re still talking.”
ABC News Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.