With Congress’ debate over Department of Homeland Security funding now likely to extend for at least several more days, President Donald Trump on Friday issued a promised executive action that Transportation Security Administration employees be paid immediately.
“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, consistent with applicable law,” the president wrote.
How that would work, exactly, is largely unclear. But TSA workers could start seeing their paychecks as soon as Monday, according to DHS.
Some context: Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are missing their second full paycheck after funding for DHS, TSA’s parent agency, lapsed on February 14. The impasse has led to thousands of officers calling out and more than 500 quitting, resulting in massive security screening delays at airports nationwide in recent weeks.Here’s what we currently know:
Where is the money coming from?
Two people familiar with the plans said DHS planned to use funding from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda package that he signed last summer. The executive action didn’t specify that, instead more broadly calling for the use of money with “a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations.”
The “big, beautiful bill” provided DHS with $10 billion that can be used to support the agency’s mission to safeguard US borders, Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told CNN. He suspects the administration will tap into this pot of money to fund TSA employees’ pay — even though TSA is not mentioned anywhere in the legislation.
Notably, the bill gives the DHS secretary the power to deem what activities support safeguarding the border, said Rachel Snyderman, managing director of the economic program at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The provision doesn’t specify that the funds should be used by a particular division within DHS.
DHS is using other money from the package to pay certain employees during the shutdown. The package provided DHS with a $165 billion infusion, funneling $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $64 billion to Customs and Border Protection.
Does Trump have the authority to do this?
In the executive action, Trump said any moves should follow the federal law that says, “Appropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law.”
When will TSA employees be paid?
According to DHS, TSA staffers could see money hit their bank accounts as soon as Monday. However, in the last shutdown, it took 14 to 30 days — and, in some cases, even longer — for workers to receive all of their back pay, TSA union leaders have said.The current shutdown has placed a huge financial burden on many TSA employees, leaving them struggling to pay for food, housing, gas, child care and other essentials.
Workers have missed more than $1 billion in pay because of the shutdown, acting TSA administration Ha Nguyen McNeill testified at a House hearing on Wednesday.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 47,000 TSA officers, said he is “grateful that action was taken” to pay employees.
But, he noted, the“These workers and their families cannot wait,” Kelley said in a statement Thursday night. “All DHS workers must be paid immediately.”
Also, TSA staffing levels at airports likely won’t return to full strength until workers receive their back pay, union leaders told reporters.
Comments
Post a Comment