Airport Alert: House Republicans Refuse to Consider Senate-Passed DHS Funding Bill

March 27, 2026

Last night, President Trump instructed DHS Secretary Mullin to “immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation.” With growing delays at airport checkpoints nationwide due to staffing shortages, the President just signed a memorandum to OMB and DHS to permit this. DHS is working to quickly fulfill that directive. All TSA employees, not just frontline Transportation Security Officers, will receive a paycheck next week that will cover all the pay that they have missed since February 14, 2026. This funding is not tied to the passage of a final DHS appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026 and instead will be derived from funds most likely provided last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Press is reporting that House Republican leaders were incensed with their Senate counterparts who approved a bill early this morning to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, excluding immigration enforcement, deportation, and some Border Patrol activities, and will not vote to approve this measure. With the House leadership’s rejection of this legislation and the Senate now on a two-week recess, the DHS funding impasse will continue. On Saturday, this shutdown will become the longest in U.S. history, unless something changes.