Trump is paying TSA agents — but where’s the money coming from?

After weeks of long lines at airports and bickering in Congress, Transportation Security Administration agents began getting paid earlier this week thanks to an executive order from President Donald Trump.

Trump’s move to bypass Congress — Which is given authority over federal spending under the US Constitution — And paying airport security agents outright is a momentary relief. Negotiations over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which have been stalled since February, Large-scale work has come to a halt while Congress is on a two-week recess.

The paychecks raise several questions: Where does the money Trump is using come from? How much is available? And how long can Trump continue paying TSA agents if Congress doesn’t reach a deal soon?

Trump’s executive Order The Secretary of Homeland Security and the White House Office of Management and Budget Director are directed to “use appropriate and logical nexus funds for TSA operations to provide compensation and benefits to TSA employees that they would have received if the Democrat-led DHS shutdown had not occurred.”

The Trump administration has confirmed the money is coming from last year’s Republican tax and spending bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“In contrast to actions taken during prior Democrat-shutdowns (i.e., paying off troops), President Trump has determined that congressional Democrats have created an emergency that cannot be allowed to continue,” a senior administration official said via email.

The White House has not said where the money is coming from in the tax and spending bill, but Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy. Center for American ProgressThat said, there is only one plausible clause that the administration can cite.

buried deep in more than 300 page size This is a section that “sets aside $10 billion for reimbursement of costs incurred in carrying out activities in support of the mission of the Department of Homeland Security to secure the borders of the United States.”

“They have a lot of money. It’s a huge slush fund. But you can’t use it for (just) anything,” Kogan said.

Trump has taken creative steps in the past to pay some federal employees. During the full government shutdown last autumn, they used unspent research and development funds, as well as a $130 million gift from a donor, to pay the U.S. military. Although Trump did not identify the private donor, the New York Times reported That was billionaire Trump supporter Timothy Mellon.

While Democrats also say they want TSA agents to be paid, Trump’s latest unilateral move to pay federal employees without Congress allocating funds first has raised concerns.

“I’m pleased that this administration has finally decided to pay these workers after not being paid for 41 days. The administration must explain what funding it is using to pay these workers, after falsely claiming it could not do so,” said House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. said in a statement The day Trump announced his plans.

Kogan believes a large portion of the $10 billion in DHS funds from last year’s tax and spending package is still available. He estimated that the cost of funding the TSA could be about $140 million per week, meaning the White House could continue to fund the agency for a year and not run out of money.

But should it be so?

Devin O’Connor, a senior partner Center on Budget and Policy PrioritiesThat said, there are real questions about the legality of such a move.

“The administration has not provided any real clarity about what they are doing publicly that would allow anyone to figure out whether what they are doing is legal or not,” O’Connor said. “He has not made the case for it publicly in any way.”

O’Connor said, “It’s clear that when Congress provided $10 billion, it was not intended that those funds be used to pay TSA workers.”

Kogan was more edgy. He considers it a clear violation of the Antideficiency Act, a law dating back to the 1800s that prohibits federal agencies from spending money that Congress has not appropriated.

When the White House was asked to respond to allegations that it was violating the law, it cited its Office of Management and Budget. An OMB official defended the funding via email, citing the legality of it. Justice Department Memorandum It states that agencies have “considerable discretion in determining whether expenditures further the authorized objectives of the agency and therefore constitute an appropriate use of a general or outright appropriation.”

According to Kogan, no one has ever been prosecuted under the Anti-Employment Act. And congressional Democrats — normally eager to challenge Trump — may not want to challenge the move to defund TSA agents and the risks it poses given the political unpopularity of long airport lines.

Kogan said, “No one is standing up. No one is going to stop this. Similarly, no one was standing up to stop Trump from illegally paying for the military last time.” “This is going to be another one of their billions of illegal budgetary actions.”

This appears to have happened by executive order from Trump Wait times made easier At airport security this week, at least for now.

Acting Assistant DHS Secretary for Public Affairs Lauren Biss said in an email that “the majority of TSA employees” received retroactive pay checks this week “that included at least two full pay checks for the most recently missed pay period.”

Biss said more than 500 officers left the TSA because of missed checks and thousands called out of work because of the shutdown.

“A smaller population may experience slight delays for a variety of reasons, including financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposits. We are working aggressively with USDA’s National Finance Center to complete processing for half of the pay owed from Pay Period 3 as quickly as possible,” Biss said.

It is unclear how long TSA will continue to be paid for through DHS funds, as Congress struggles to come together on an agreement.

Last week, no senators objected to a proposal to defund all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, sending it to the House for final approval. The move allowed the Senate to effectively end the shutdown and leave town for a pre-planned recess, while reducing long waits at airports across the country ahead of the heavy travel time in early April for Easter and Passover.

That deal angered House Republicans, who refused to consider the Senate compromise and instead opted to pass their own stopgap spending measure that would continue funding for all of DHS, including ICE and CBP, through May 22 and send it back to the Senate.

By that time the Senate had already left Washington, Extended shutdown guaranteed. Democrats have vowed to block any package that includes immigration enforcement funding without changes to the agency’s practices, and senators dispersed across the country and the world for recess.

The White House has urged Congress to return early from its break, but leaders of both houses have indicated no plans to do so.

Trump weighed in on Wednesday Via TruthSocial On Wednesday, congressional Republicans called for using the budget reconciliation process — a procedural device for spending-related measures that requires only a simple majority in the Senate to pass — to bypass Democrats and defund ICE and CBP.

Trump wrote, “I am requesting that the bill be on my desk no later than June 1. Our law enforcement officers and the American people should not wait until Democrats see reason or learn the hard way through voting down.”

— megan casella Contributed to this story.