Our live coverage of the TSA staffing shortage has ended for the day. Get the latest here.
What we covered
• Elusive funding fix: Top Senate Republicans believe their party is unified behind a plan — without money for immigration enforcement — to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled Democrats will present a counteroffer. President Donald Trump declined to immediately endorse the GOP proposal.
• Unpredictable waits: Security wait times vary widely from airport to airport because of callouts from Transportation Security Administration officers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were sent to 14 airports Monday, including some of those hit hardest by TSA staffing shortages.
• “Dire” situation: More than 450 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began, and a top TSA official called the situation “dire.” A union leader said TSA officers, who haven’t been paid since mid-February, feel “abandoned” and forgotten. Even if the partial government shutdown ends, it may take days, if not weeks, for TSA to be back to full staffing levels, union officials said.
From the TSA line to Capitol Hill: Here's what to know today
Passengers at some airports are still seeing long security lines today because of callouts from Transportation Security Administration officers who haven’t been paid since mid-February.
Meantime, a fight over Department of Homeland Security funding is still playing out with President Donald Trump not quite endorsing Republicans’ plan yet.
Here’s a look at what’s been going on.
At airports:
- TSA officers will miss their second full paycheck this weekend if Congress doesn’t act. More than 450 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown started, and many others are calling out.
- It may take days, if not weeks, for TSA to be back to full staffing levels even after Congress passes a funding package. Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay.
- Tens of thousands of other DHS staffers are getting paid as usual, however, thanks to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- ICE agents deployed to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport are passing out bottles of water to travelers while they wait in TSA lines as long as four hours. TSA union leaders said the federal agents’ presence is an “insult to the employees.”
- In Atlanta, wait times have dropped drastically. Unlike three-hour lines yesterday, many passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport made it through this morning in less than 45 minutes.
- Lines at LaGuardia Airport in New York stretched well over an hour today as it works through a backlog of passengers after shutting down for hours following Sunday night’s deadly collision between a plane and a fire truck.
- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is sending civilian security employees to three New York City-area airports to help reduce wait times, the agency said
On Capitol Hill:
- Trump declined to immediately endorse a GOP proposal to reopen DHS, saying he’s “going to take a good hard look at it.” The GOP pitched the idea to the president last night.
- A plan developed by Senate Republicans would fund DHS, with the exception of the portion of its budget that goes toward immigration enforcement.
- While Democrats have been demanding a plan very close to what Republicans are proposing, they are now arguing they also want to see additional reforms for ICE.
- Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as the new DHS secretary today.
CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Ed Lavandera, Caroll Alvarado, Dalia Abdelwahab, Lauren Fox, Aaron Cooper, Tami Luhby, Alexandra Skores, Holly Yan and Chris Youd contributed reporting to this post which has been updated with the latest news.
ICE officers in airports is an “insult,” TSA union leaders say
Transportation Security Administration union leaders blasted the Trump administration’s decision to put immigration enforcement officers in certain airports this week amid massive waits for security screenings.
Travelers have had to contend with hourslong lines to pass through airport security checkpoints recently as TSA staffers call out in higher numbers during the partial government shutdown. TSA workers have not received a full paycheck since mid-February.
TSA staffers are particularly incensed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are being paid — through funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — while the TSA officers are not, union leaders said in a news conference today.
“This is kind of like an insult to the employees,” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer for the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100.
TSA workers are also concerned about losing their jobs after ICE agents were deployed.
The ICE agents are not trained to do security screenings and don’t know the airports they are assigned to, so they can’t help travelers, union officials said.
“There’s no way ICE can guarantee safety for the passengers,” said Hydrick Thomas, president of AFGE TSA Council 100. “All ICE is doing is (getting) in the way of the passengers.”
TSA may not return to full staff immediately after shutdown ends, union officials say
It may take days, if not weeks, for the Transportation Security Administration to be back to full staffing levels at airports even after Congress passes a funding package and ends the partial government shutdown.
TSA officers had to wait 14 to 30 days to receive their back pay during the most recent government shutdown in the fall, Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA Council 100, said in a news conference Tuesday. Also, although the prior shutdown ended late on a Wednesday, workers did not receive their regularly scheduled paychecks that weekend, he noted.
Asked when airport security checkpoints will be fully staffed after this shutdown, Jones said, “During the last time, it still took quite a few days.”
Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay during the partial government shutdown, which began February 14. The workers missed their first full paycheck in mid-March, after only receiving a partial paycheck at the end of February.
TSA workers are scheduled to receive their next paycheck this coming weekend. Whether they will receive those funds on time remains in doubt even though lawmakers are making progress on a deal to reopen the agency.
Travelers have had to contend with hours-long waits to get through security at multiple airports nationwide recently as TSA workers call out in higher numbers.
Aaron Barker, president of AFGE Local 554, which covers airports in Georgia, told reporters the long lines won’t disappear immediately.
“Until that paycheck hits that account, you can expect the same,” Barker said during the press conference.
Analysis: Are Democrats caving on a shutdown again?
It’s looking like the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security could soon be over. Increasing chaos and hours-long wait times at the nation’s airports appear to have pushed Congress toward a possible resolution.
Details are still being ironed out, and it’s not done until it’s done.
Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have said they need to get some bona fide concessions. Some Senate Republicans are grumbling. President Donald Trump doesn’t sound thrilled and has blown up deals at the last minute before.
Read more about the dynamics at play as Republicans and Democrats work towards a potential resolutions to the partial government shutdown.
TSA official says the situation for agents is "dire"
A top Transportation Security Administration official said today that “the situation is dire” for TSA agents and warned that there would be a significant impact on staffing in the future, especially as travel in the United States ramps up this summer.
When asked about how many TSA workers were projected to quit, Stahl said that the agency previously saw an “an increase of 25% in attrition after the lapse of the first shutdown” in 2025.
“So I can assure you, it’s gonna be not good,” he added.
“We’re on the heels of the World Cup as well, a heavily trafficked, globally trafficked travel event. And so this is gonna get worse, and we’re gonna have to deal with the reverberations of this for a long time,” Stahl continued.
GOP ready to reopen DHS by this weekend with support from Democrats, Thune says
Republicans in Congress are ready to immediately reopen the Department of Homeland Security — without money for immigration enforcement — as long as enough Democrats are willing to back the plan, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The Senate could take its first procedural votes as soon as today if Democrats accepted the plan, Thune said Tuesday, adding that his party is united behind the GOP funding compromise plan.
“The ball’s in the Democrats’ court,” Thune said, noting that Republicans have now made details of the deal available to Democrats: “We’re ready to move.”
Thune added that Republicans “very well may” pursue Trump’s other goals — including more ICE funding and elements of his voter ID bill known as the SAVE America Act — through a special filibuster-busting tool known as reconciliation.
He said the Senate GOP conference’s lunchtime meeting was focused on the possibility of the legislative maneuver that would not require Democratic votes. But Thune himself was noncommittal, saying: “You have to have a reason to do it. If we have reasons to do it, then we very well may.”
“I think there’s a lot of support for a budget reconciliation bill,” Thune said. “We could tee one of those up. That’s an option. If that’s what it takes to get some of these things across the finish line, and we can do it with a simple majority, we’ll take a hard look at that.”
Notably, Thune said he expected to follow the rules of reconciliation and not try to overrule the Senate’s rulekeeper — meaning that most of Trump’s SAVE Act proposal would likely not qualify for that filibuster-proof process.
“Obviously, the parliamentarian has a role to play in that process. In the past, we have respected it and I would expect we would do that,” Thune said, when asked if he planned to overrule the parliamentarian in an attempt to muscle through Trump’s full bill.
TSA employees feel “abandoned, unvalued,” union leader says
As Transportation Security Administration employees continue to work without pay as the partial government shutdown stretches on, many of those workers feel “abandoned” and “forgotten” as their colleagues in the Department of Homeland Security get paid, said Angela Grana, regional vice president of Colorado TSA Workers Union AFGE Local 1127.
“It feels horrible, our mission is just as important,” Grana told CNN’s Brianna Keilar. “We should never have such a small salary to begin with for such a huge responsibility that we have. And then we’re working side by side with our counterparts that are getting paid. It’s pretty demoralizing.”
Many TSA agents don’t want to call out of work but are forced to as they don’t have money for gas or other necessities to make it into work, she said. The workers who are able to make it in are still burdened by these distractions, which brings its own security risk when workers can’t fully focus, she added.
Grana called on Congress to work together to fund their salaries, saying “We work together as officers. We don’t understand why Congress can’t do the same.”
Maryland governor: Trump’s ICE airport deployments are part of a bigger plan
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told CNN’s Dana Bash he believes the Trump administration’s use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in neighborhoods and at airports is part of something bigger.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says he thinks the Trump administration’s use of ICE in neighborhoods and airports is part of something bigger. CNN’s Dana Bash talks to the Democratic governor about what he thinks President Trump’s longer term strategy may be.
Trump declines to endorse GOP's proposed DHS funding plan
President Donald Trump declined to immediately endorse a GOP proposal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, saying Tuesday he’d likely be unhappy with any compromise deal.
“They’re negotiating a deal, I guess they’re getting fairly close,” he said from the Oval Office. “But I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy.”
Trump added that he viewed the weekslong closure of DHS as a “Democrat problem,” even as he acknowledged that he might ultimately agree to back the proposal should it get sufficient support on Capitol Hill.
“I’m going to look at it,” Trump said. “I want to support Republicans.”
The plan developed by Senate Republicans would fund DHS, with the exception of the portion of its budget that goes toward immigration enforcement. The GOP would then work toward passing that funding slice as part of a future party-line bill.
Trump had initially urged Republicans to hold out, demanding that they not make a deal unless Democrats backed a package of election security measures, which would be a nonstarter for the party.
Republicans traveled to the White House on Monday night to pitch Trump on on their compromise idea instead, emerging confident that he would support it. Yet the president on Tuesday refused to weigh in definiteively, saying only that “they’re working on it.”
“That’s a detail that they’ll explain later,” he said of the lack of enforcement funding in the proposed funding deal.
ICE agents at George Bush Intercontinental Airport provide water to travelers waiting in long lines
ICE agents deployed to George Bush Intercontinental Airport are helping travelers stay hydrated while they wait in TSA lines as long as four hours.
Tuesday marked the second day ICE agents have been sent to airports to assist with TSA staff shortages.
Video taken by CNN’s Ed Lavandera shows an ICE agent standing with a cooler of bottled water. As travelers pass by, the agent interacts with some while others grab a bottle of water.
Melissa Dunlop, who was heading with her son on a college tour, was one of the travelers who spoke with the ICE agent. She told CNN she had been waiting in line for 90 minutes before she came across the agent handing out water. Dunlop said she was “happy to see them.”
She, like most of the passengers Lavandera spoke with Tuesday, is trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Mullin sworn in as new DHS secretary
Attorney General Pam Bondi swore in Markwayne Mullin as the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday in the Oval Office.
Mullin, who succeeds Kristi Noem, joins a department in turmoil. Its funding expired on February 14 and has been mired in Capitol Hill negotiations.
“I have no doubt that, as he takes the helm of DHS, Markwayne will fight for homeland security of the United States and securing the country and making it really strong the way it should be,” President Donald Trump said at the White House on Tuesday.
Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, was confirmed by the Senate Monday evening in a 54 to 45 vote.
2 issues that could imperil a funding deal and drag out TSA lines
There are two potential issues threatening to crater the carefully crafted Department of Homeland Security funding offer Republicans had been preparing for President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats.
1. New Democratic demands
For weeks, Democrats had been demanding that Republicans fund all of DHS minus immigration enforcement. Republicans objected.
Now, Republicans are offering a plan that would fund almost every aspect of DHS besides ICE’s immigration enforcement activities. If that sounds very close to what Democrats have demanded, it’s because it is.
Under the GOP’s offer, they’d fund CBP operations and they would also fund investigations related to DHS.
But now Democratic leaders are arguing they want to also see additional reforms for ICE.
2. President Trump
Republican leaders were upbeat last night that the president was bought in on the proposal – with a promise to attempt to pass his top priority “SAVE America Act” down the line using a complex budget process.
But Trump hasn’t fully endorsed the plan. And it’s extremely unlikely Republican leaders can deliver him the elections overhaul bill using that budget manuever.
At issue: to pass a bill with just 51 Senate votes, you have to prove the bill has a real impact on the budget. But this is largely a policy bill dealing with voter ID and proof of citizenship – issues objectively difficult to prove have a massive budget impact.
If Trump thinks he can’t get his SAVE America Act, does he change his view? That remains a major question.
This post has been updated with additional details.
Civilian security will join TSA to help manage crowds at NYC airports
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is sending civilian security employees to three New York City-area airports to help manage the flow of passengers, the agency said Tuesday.
They will help to maintain safe and orderly conditions, an agency spokesperson said.
The additional personnel will help alleviate congestion at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.
This post has been updated.
Private jet companies see increased demand amid hours-long lines at airports
As airports nationwide grapple with TSA staffing shortages due to the partial government shutdown, one sector of the aviation industry has seen increased interest: private jets.
Private jet companies PlaneSense and Flexjet have seen increased demand in recent weeks, with a 39% growth in Flexjet’s charter business, FXAIR, since February 15 compared to last year.
“That’s a really significant spike in an industry where most people in the charter space at any given time see something like 4% to 5% in terms of growth, seeing 39% growth tells us that there’s something going on,” said Flexjet Global CEO Andrew Collins.
Increased demand for private options is common when there is friction at commercial airlines, FXAIR President Gregg Slow said in a statement, but Flexjet’s current spike is higher than previously seen, Collins said.
Travelers who can afford to fly private, which can cost thousands, can avoid the hours-long lines, use regional airports closer to their destinations and choose what time they want to take off.
“Commercial aviation sometimes is a great advertising vehicle or a great marketing vehicle for private aviation,” Collins said.
Traveler compliments TSA staff after 90-minute wait at LaGuardia Airport
One traveler who flew out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport this morning told CNN he waited in line for security for more than 90 minutes.
The seemingly “endless” lines were still wrapped around all of terminal B and split into two general boarding and one PreCheck line during his wait. “The airport staff did tell us it was about a 90-minute wait,” Jay Cherry said.
“I was in line for 1 hour, 37 mins, from 6:37 a.m. to 8:14 a.m., (and) made it just in time for my 9 a.m. flight,” Cherry told CNN.
TSA officers are not getting paid, but other DHS staffers are
Transportation Security Administration officers will miss their second full paycheck this weekend if Congress doesn’t act to fund at least part of the Department of Homeland Security.
But tens of thousands of other DHS staffers are getting paid as usual, thanks to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay during the partial government shutdown, which began February 14. The workers missed their first full paycheck in mid-March, after only receiving a partial paycheck at the end of February.
More than 450 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown started, and many others are calling out, causing massive delays in security screenings at multiple airports nationwide.
But DHS can draw on a $165 billion infusion from last summer’s “big, beautiful bill” to fund other parts of the agency. The legislation funneled $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone and $64 billion to Customs and Border Protection.
Paychecks for sworn law enforcement officers in ICE, CBP and the US Secret Service, as well as for US Coast Guard military personnel, are being funded by the “big, beautiful bill,” a senior administration official told CNN.
Other positions that work on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and border security priorities, such as technology specialists and attorneys, are also being paid through the president’s domestic policy package, the official said.
Talks have been intensifying between Senate Democrats and the White House on reopening DHS. Democrats have demanded immigration enforcement reforms in exchange for their support for a DHS funding package.
Talks are intensifying on reopening DHS but Democrats want additional changes to ICE
Senate Democrats want additional changes to ICE protocols and tactics, even as they say they’re encouraged by the intensifying talks between the senators and the White House on funding the Department of Homeland Security.
The department has been shut down since February 14, after Senate Democrats refused to fund ICE without major changes to its tactics and protocols.
After initially balking, President Donald Trump has signaled he is on board with a proposal from Republicans to approve funding for all of DHS except ICE’s enforcement and removal operations. Democrats were encouraged by this development, but are still pushing for changes.
“Schumer’s made it clear to his members and to Republicans that only removing ERO funding without any other reforms is not enough,” a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Sen. Chris Coons, a senior Democratic appropriator, agreed.
“I’d like to see us get some reforms to the conduct of ICE, CBP and HSI. I’d like us to get some reforms that mean we don’t have roving bands of masked unnamed agents grabbing people off the street or policing sensitive spaces. And there have been reasonable offers and good discussions on both sides,” he said.
Sen. Tim Kaine noted Democrats have previously offered to fund the rest of the department, excluding ICE, and Republicans had refused.
“What I hear out of the White House last night was positive. It sounds like the more and more Rs are saying that they want to take yes for an answer,” he said.
Over 450 TSA officers have quit since the start of the shutdown, DHS says
Over 450 TSA officers have quit since the start of the partial government shutdown, said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS.
Nearly 11% of workers called out on Monday, when airports across the nation saw hours-long security wait times, lines stretching into parking lots and the arrival of ICE agents for support, TSA reported.
The highest rate of callouts since the start of the shutdown came Sunday, when 11.76% TSA workers called out, the agency said.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 37.4% of TSA workers have called out on average, TSA said. Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport has seen 40.3% of workers calling out, similar to Houston’s other major airport, George Bush Intercontinental, which has seen 36.1% of agency workers calling out.
How Delta Air Lines is handling the travel chaos
With unpredictable security wait times at major US airports, Delta Air Lines is trying to alleviate the stress on TSA agents and travelers while maintaining safety, security and the carrier’s meticulous schedule, the airline said.
Callouts from TSA officers who haven’t been paid since mid-February have led to staffing shortages, so Delta has arranged at many of its hub airports for meals for TSA workers, the airline said. Delta employees also have staffed some workstations, helping people navigate terminals, managing checkpoint lines and ensuring customers put their carry-ons onto scanners properly.
These duties fall outside the screening roles that require TSA certification and training, Delta said.
In Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered, corporate employees are helping with fliers check in, the airline said: “Customers are showing up for their flights and enduring the lines – the biggest impact is to the customer experience at check-in lobbies with the long TSA wait times.”
The airline will try to rebook customers who miss flights due to long security lines – up to a point, it said.
“Delta’s vast, global operation is meticulously planned so our people can safely run our fleet to cover nearly 5,000 flights on any given day,” the airline said.
“Many critical activities are planned weeks and months in advance – safety, timing and placement are everything for an airline,” it said, adding, “Many flights are nearly or completely full as Spring Break travel begins in earnest.”
Delta wasn’t ready to discuss potential cost or lost revenue caused by the DHS shutdown, saying it will address that topic during its Q1 financial results conference call on April 8.
