Republicans in the US House of Representatives have rejected a bipartisan deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and instead approved a different plan, prolonging the shutdown that has caused huge delays at airports.
Their Senate colleagues backed a bill that would have reopened most of DHS but excluded funding for immigration agencies to garner support from Democrats, who oppose funding immigration enforcement without reforms.
House Republican leaders rejected this, with Speaker Mike Johnson labelling the Senate bill a “joke”.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, who manage US airport security, have not been paid in more than a month due to the impasse.
House Republicans are demanding that the legislation includes money for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, and their plan would mean funding DHS at current levels for 60 days.
“Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” Johnson said.
The House, where Republicans hold a majority, passed the measure in a 213 to 203 vote late on Friday. The bill will head back to the Senate for approval but top Democrat Chuck Schumer described it as “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.
With Congress now taking a two-week break, funding for the DHS – which covers TSA agents, as well as ICE and Customs and Border Protection – appears unlikely to pass any time soon.
US President Donald Trump signed an order directing his administration to pay hundreds of airport security agents in a bid to ease delays during the impasse.
The DHS said late on Friday that agents should begin seeing paycheques as early as Monday.
The move may be met with legal and political challenges, as the US constitution tasks Congress with authorising spending for the federal government.
Travellers have faced hours-long queues at airports across the US due to a shortage of TSA officers at security checkpoints.
Around 50,000 agents with the TSA have been working without pay since mid-February. This has led to some not turning up for work and hundreds quitting.
Currently, only a third to 50% of Houston’s TSA checkpoints are operating, according to Jim Szczesniak, the airport’s director of aviation.
A few hours before the Senate vote, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would sign an executive order “to immediately pay our TSA Agents”.
“Trump should never have had to step in to rescue TSA workers and US air travel,” said the Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, addressing the chamber after the vote.
