TSA misses first pay check after shutdown due to Senate dispute over DHS funding

The debate over ending the shutdown of the Department of Immigration and Homeland Security spilled over to the Senate floor late Wednesday, as Transportation Security Administration agents are among the DHS employees who will miss their first full pay this week.

Airports have recently struggled with funding shortages, with passengers having to contend with long lines at security checkpoints as agents walk off the job rather than toil without pay.

A rhetorical battle on the Senate floor that resulted in no changes led to a shutdown at DHS beginning on February 14. After two US citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Democrats are demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement as a condition of funding the agency. Republicans – supported by President Donald Trump – are not interested in policy changes as a condition of funding the agency.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., proposed funding only the TSA, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, while lawmakers continue to debate funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which are sub-agencies that handle immigration enforcement.

Murray, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, “As far as the rest of DHS that does critical work to keep Americans safe like FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, the Democrats are here, we’re trying to fund those agencies — while ICE and Border Patrol negotiations continue.”

Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security subpanel, blocked Murray’s measure.

Britt then proposed defunding DHS for two weeks, which Murray later blocked.

“The people who sent us here expect more,” Britt said. “We would like the opportunity to continue to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security while we negotiate the best path forward.”

Democrats on Thursday proposed defunding individual agencies within DHS: TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA and CISA. Funding each agency individually would allow the party to campaign on Republicans refusing to do so, just as Republicans would blame the Democrats’ refusal to fund the entire agency in the same way.

Republicans are wary of accepting an expansion of DHS except for Border Patrol and ICE, fearing that funding packages for those agencies would never be completed because of their narrow majority in the Senate. Democratic votes are needed to pass legislation through the House. Democrats argue that the Border Patrol and ICE are already funded through the Republican tax cuts and spending megabill passed last year, and they will not accept more funding for those agencies without changes to immigration enforcement practices.

The failure of any proposal to move forward effectively ensures that agency workers will not receive their first full payday this week. An average TSA agent in Washington Earns less than $50,000 annuallyAccording to ZipRecruiter.

Dozens of senators took to the floor Wednesday to publicly debate the dueling measures.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., urged lawmakers to support the measure and urged negotiations to continue.

“I don’t see why anyone would object if you’re honest in trying to get a deal,” Thune said.

Murray said the Republican proposal “doesn’t go far enough to meet this moment, not by a long shot.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., also took to the stage and said, “We’re in a terrible conundrum here.”

But there was no proposal in the Senate to continue funding DHS and paying its employees.

Correction: Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., is vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His designation on the committee was misstated in the earlier version.