The partial shutdown of the US government entered its sixth week on Sunday, becoming the longest partial shutdown in the country's history. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the fourth-largest federal agency with 193,867 employees — accounting for 9.4% of the total workforce — remains at the centre of the impasse. If the shutdown continues beyond the weekend, it is set to overtake the 43-day record set late last year.
The disruption has been felt acutely at airports, where more TSA workers failed to report for duty on Friday than on any previous day of the shutdown. Major hubs including Baltimore, Houston and New York City have reported hours-long queues, while other airports have seen no significant delays. DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis said more than 3,560 TSA employees — over 12% of the agency's workforce — had called out, and more than 500 had resigned, with thousands unable to afford "basic necessities like gas, child care, food or rent." The agency confirmed that over 480 TSA workers have left since the shutdown began.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum ordering DHS to restore pay to TSA employees, who have missed two paychecks, but it remains unclear whether he has the legal authority to do so and where the funds would come from. The memo directs DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to allocate any funds with a "reasonable and logical nexus" to TSA operations to cover salaries and benefits that would have accrued in normal circumstances.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that paying TSA agents was "a start" to resolving the crisis. He told CNN that he had spoken to Secretary Mullin and that a plan was in place "to get these TSA agents pay, hopefully by tomorrow, Tuesday." However, he stressed that tens of thousands of other DHS employees remain unpaid. Homan declined to say whether ICE agents deployed to airports would be withdrawn, but told CBS's Face the Nation that ICE will maintain a presence "until the airports feel like they're 100%" able to operate normally.
The political standoff deepened over the weekend as the House rejected a Senate-passed bill that would fund much of the department, including FEMA and the Coast Guard, but exclude ICE and border patrol. House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the bill as a "gambit," adding that not every Senate Republican could have read it. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said some senators had expressed "buyer's remorse" over the 3 a.m. vote, and that House Republicans had "real concerns" that the measure would defund 25% of the DHS's operations.
