DHS shutdown: Congressional dysfunction imperils pay for TSA, Secret Service

Congress, while rife with dysfunction, is in short supply of time. Both chambers are slated to take a weeklong break starting Friday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April that he said would authorize paying all DHS employees during the shutdown. But that emergency funding could dry up by May 1, according to Trump administration officials.

If it does, Transportation Security Administration agents could begin missing paychecks again, which at the start of the shutdown caused massive delays at airports across the country. It could also mean Secret Service agents, who stopped an alleged gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the weekend, could soon go without pay, along with other DHS workers.

“The Senate has twice — twice — passed DHS funding unanimously, starting 33 days ago,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Senate in late March approved a DHS bill that would have funded the agency except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, but the House spiked the proposal amid backlash from conservative within the conference.

“All [Speaker Mike] Johnson has to do is put it on the floor and it’ll pass. It’ll pass by a whole lot of votes. But right now, Republicans are blocking it,” Schumer said.

Just stuck

The finger pointing over DHS funding goes both ways.

Republicans have repeatedly taken shots at Democrats, who refused to fund DHS in February after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in January during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Most Democrats have continued to withhold their support from any legislation that would provide funding to ICE and parts of CBP without changes in immigration enforcement practices.

“The Radical Left Democrats have kept DHS shut down since February 14th. Our Great Speaker, Mike Johnson, is working hard to end the Democrat Shut Down, and pass the first step of a plan to get FULL FUNDING for our incredible ICE and Border Patrol Agents,” President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday, referring to a budget resolution that Republicans introduced last week under the “budget reconciliation” process.

Budget reconciliation is a way to pass spending-related initiatives with a simple majority in the Senate, as opposed to the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in the chamber, allowing for passage of contentious provisions on a party-line vote.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/28/dhs-tsa-shutdown-congress.html