Where things stand
• Shutdown impasse begins to budge: The Senate reached an agreement overnight to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA. The House still needs to act on the measure, which excludes funding for ICE and part of border patrol. In the meantime, President Donald Trump said he will sign an order directing DHS to “immediately pay” TSA agents.
• Airport woes could linger: Even if the shutdown ends, union officials warn it could take days or weeks for TSA staffing levels to return to normal, meaning the hourslong security wait times at some US airports wouldn’t disappear overnight.
• This weekend: Meanwhile, people across the country plan to speak out against Trump’s agenda at “No Kings” protests this weekend as a new poll finds the president’s overall presidential approval rating in the high 30s.
TSA union "grateful" that Trump to order workers be paid
The national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said he is “grateful” that President Donald Trump announced he would order the Department of Homeland Security to pay Transportation Administration Security employees.
“For the past five weeks, AFGE members have been calling on Washington to pay the public servants at the Department of Homeland Security who are protecting this country while the parties work out their differences,” Everett Kelley said in a statement Thursday night. “Today, that call was answered. The 47,000 TSA officers represented by AFGE will finally be paid, and we are grateful that action was taken to make that happen.”
Hours after Trump’s post on Truth Social, the Senate voted to fund most of DHS, except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. However, the House must still approve the legislation before it can go to the White House for Trump’s signature.
It’s unclear how quickly DHS will be able to carry out Trump’s order and when TSA officers will receive their back pay.
Long TSA lines are rendering the wait time trackers useless at many airports
As flyers face hourslong waits, some airports are making the decision not to display estimated security wait times that they no longer have the software or capacity to accurately determine.
At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, the terminal was not designed for the types of crowds seen in recent weeks, the airport’s general manager, Ricky Smith, told CNN.
“We use a software that measures the wait times in the checkpoint – and obviously lines have extended well beyond the checkpoints,” Smith said.
Other airports have also made the decision not to display wait times, like New York’s LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy International and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International.
“The technology used to generate those estimates is only reliable when passenger lines remain within designated queue areas,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told CNN.
CNN’s Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.
Up to 4 hour waits at TSA checkpoints early Friday
Despite what’s happening in Washington, long lines greeted travelers before dawn at some airport security checkpoints across the country on Friday.
At Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, waits reaching four hours were reported before 5 a.m. local time ( 6 a.m. ET).
The airport is getting help from 32 TSA national deployment officers, who travel to assist airports, but they are not enough to make up for the staffing shortage the airport system said in an online update.
“While they are making a positive impact, overall TSA staffing levels remain below normal, and high passenger volumes continue to exceed screening capacity at peak times,” the airport said.
Houston is hosting multiple major national events this week on top of seeing a high number of travelers as some schools around the country are on break.
“What we are dealing with is 100% of spring break traffic trying to squeeze through 50% or less of our TSA checkpoints, so the math does not work” Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System, said in an online video.
Wait times were already greater than 30 minutes at 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) at Minneapolis St. Paul International and one of terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth International.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, which no longer reports wait times, lines stretched outside the building by 5:15 a.m. ET, CNN staff reported.
Even if the shutdown ends, it could take weeks for TSA to get back to full staffing
Transportation Security Administration officers are one step closer to getting paid again — but that doesn’t mean that the long lines at airports will disappear quickly.
The Senate approved funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, hours after President Donald Trump said he would order DHS to pay TSA agents immediately. Still, it could take days, if not weeks, for the agency to be back to full staffing levels.
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.
Roughly 61,000 TSA employees are working without pay during the partial government shutdown, which began February 14. The House must still vote on the Senate’s bill, which would then go to the White House for Trump’s signature.
TSA workers are scheduled to receive their next paycheck in coming days, but it’s unclear how quickly DHS will be able to carry out Trump’s order. They missed their first full paycheck in mid-March, after only receiving a partial paycheck at the end of February.
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 on Tuesday the long lines won’t disappear immediately.
“Until that paycheck hits that account, you can expect the same,” Barker said during a press conference.
"Until you get here, you don't know what you're up against," Atlanta passenger says
As security lines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport once again stretch outside the building’s doors this morning, one passenger says he arrived extra early to get in line.
“Until you get here, you don’t know what you’re up against, so you’ve got to make sure you give yourself probably an extra hour than what they’re saying,” Chris told CNN.
“You have to have some patience and wait and move with the crowd,” he said as he moved through the line at a steady pace.
Chris said he understands why TSA agents might not be working. “If you work, you want to get paid. I can’t blame them for not coming in,” he told CNN. “If you put in an honest day’s work, you want to get paid for it. So it’s unfortunate what it’s come to.”
Security lines in Atlanta are already stretching out the door
As airports across the country brace for busy weekend travel days, a line of passengers waiting to get through security at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has already begun to stretch outside the building’s doors.
Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were checking IDs, as seen by CNN’s David Valenzuela, who said it took him 75 minutes to get through the TSA PreCheck line.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday that ICE agents have started verifying travelers’ IDs at some airports, and have been guarding entrances and exits, helping with logistics and crowd control after “receiving standard TSA training curriculum,” the agency said.
With offers to help TSA agents, what gifts can they accept?
While airports and communities continue to rally to support TSA staff who have been working without pay for weeks during the partial government shutdown, there are restrictions on the donations and gifts workers can legally accept.
TSA workers cannot accept any type of cash in the form of a gift or donation, according to Keith Jeffries, who ran TSA at Los Angeles International Airport and is now a vice president of K2 Security Screening Group.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he’s instructing the Department of Homeland Security to “immediately pay” TSA agents who were set to miss another paycheck Friday. And the Senate reached an agreement overnight to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA, but the House still needs to act on the measure.
In the meantime, airports nationwide have been seeking gift or meal donations for their workers affected by the shutdown in recent weeks. They include gift card donation drives for groceries and gas, food pantries and other meal donations.
Gift card donations are allowed, although with a recommended cap of $25, along with food items and other necessities, according to Jeffries.
Airports or airlines must coordinate donation distribution into the hands of TSA workers to make it legal, Jeffries said. TSA workers can’t personally accept gifts or donations from travelers, and it’s an ethics violation for them to collect them directly from the traveling public, he added.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
Americans planning to protest this weekend as new polls find Trump's approval in 30s
People across the country plan to speak out against President Donald Trump’s agenda at “No Kings” protests this weekend as the president’s approval rating is deeply underwater, according to two new polls this week.
A Quinnipiac University poll and an AP-NORC poll found Trump’s overall presidential approval rating in the high 30s, which is little changed since February. Meantime, a new Reuters/Ipsos survey found a slight dip in his ratings.
CNN’s Poll of Polls average puts Trump’s approval rating among US adults at 38%, with 60% disapproving, as of Wednesday – similar to his standing in previous averages this year.
Trump’s approval rating for handling foreign policy stands at 34% in the AP-NORC survey, a low ebb for the president in its polling since he returned to office last year, with more than half saying they have little or no trust in him to make the right decisions about the use of military force outside the US.
What you missed overnight: The Senate reached an agreement to restore TSA funding
The Senate reached an agreement overnight to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration, which has been plagued by resignations and sick calls as agents have been working without pay since February.
The House still needs to act on the measure before funded agencies within the department can reopen.
Hours before the Senate deal was reached, President Donald Trump said he is instructing DHS to “immediately pay” TSA agents. The move is part of an effort to relieve the tedious, hourslong waits that have left travelers stuck in lines that weave through airport atriums and spill outside before their security screening.
Here’s the latest to get up to speed:
- In addition to funding TSA, the Senate deal also funds most of DHS – except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border protection.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s not sure what the House will do with the Senate funding agreement as the holiday break looms. “Hopefully they’ll be around and we can get at least a lot of the government opened up again, and then we’ll, we’ll go from there,” he said.
- Following the overnight agreement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was “very proud” his caucus “stood united” amid the shutdown. “Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly, deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms,” Schumer said.
- As the funding situation remains uncertain, ICE agents are expected to continue to have a presence at multiple airports Friday. Since being sent to aid the maxed out security checkpoints earlier this week, the agents have been helping direct lines, passing out water and at some locations, verifying passenger IDs and boarding passes.
Funding to pay TSA workers could come from Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, sources say
President Donald Trump plans to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who are going without paychecks by using funding from the sweeping legislation he signed last year known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, according to two people familiar with the plans.
The president announced yesterday he would take executive action to pay the workers, citing the stalemate on Capitol Hill to end the DHS shutdown. His senior aides are still working to finalize how to pay the TSA workers on the verge of missing their second full paycheck and things could change, one person cautioned.
How soon TSA employees will actually get checks will depend on how quickly the internal review to pay them using funds from the OBBB can work, one person told CNN.
The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act provided DHS with a $165 billion infusion, funneling $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement 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 president’s domestic policy package, according to a senior administration official. 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 legislation, the official said.
