Trump says he’ll sign order to pay TSA during shutdown

President Donald Trump said he would sign an order to pay Transportation Security Administration officers in a bid to alleviate disruptions at US airports with lawmakers in Congress deadlocked on how to end a partial government shutdown.“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullen, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump declared in a social media post on Thursday evening.“It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”It is unclear what legal authority the president has to circumvent Congress, which broadly controls federal spending, to pay TSA workers.At the same time, it may be hard for opponents to stop Trump – who successfully ordered the military to keep getting paid during the last full federal shutdown in 2025 – from moving funds around to pay TSA now.An ICE agent watches a TSA security line at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Thursday. Photo: ReutersThe Republican-led House and Senate have been broadly deferential to Trump as he increasingly flexes powers typically reserved to the legislature in his second term.