The partial government shutdown has dragged on for 41 days now. Roughly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have been working but not getting paid. Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries went on MS Now and accused Donald Trump of choosing not to pay TSA agents because it is a bargain and that the money is already available.
According to Jeffries, Trump and Republicans passed a budget bill last year that gave the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) $191 billion. Of that $10 billion was flexible funding that Trump could use “any way he wants.”
Jeffries argued that Trump looked at that pile of money and “wanted to hold TSA agents and the American people hostage” to pressure Democrats into caving on Trump’s broader agenda.
In exchange, Trump wants Democrats to sign off on funding for ICE, which Democrats have been demanding reforms to since federal agents fatally shot two people in Minneapolis. Second, Trump is pushing for a bill Democrats are calling “voter suppression on steroids,” also known as the Save America Act. It would require voters to produce passports or birth certificates to vote (which millions of Americans don’t even have), and it would then hand over every state’s voter rolls to DHS.
Trump on Save Act: “If we get this they probably won’t win an election for 50 years, okay, and maybe longer.”
FC: Trump believes stricter voting rules would reduce Democratic turnout and favor Republicans. @Acyn (2026)pic.twitter.com/LQvCtzd63R
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) March 10, 2026
Democrats say the act doesn’t have enough Republican votes to pass in the Senate.
But according to Jeffries, Trump told Senate Republicans not to do anything else until they get this done. Meanwhile, over 100 airport leaders wrote to Congress to end the standoff. They warn that the “operational disruptions” are “potentially long-lasting.”
The TSA officers who are still showing up are working without paychecks and burning out, while some are not showing up to work at all. Congress will soon have a two-week Easter recess. This Wednesday, a procedural vote to advance a Republican DHS funding package failed by 54-46, short of the 60 votes needed. Democrats blocked it as they say it didn’t include ICE reforms.
Republicans then blocked Democrats’ standalone TSA funding proposals nine times, as Chuck Schumer counted. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Democrats’ latest counteroffer is “not even close to being real.” Schumer called the GOP’s approach “poppycock ” before lawmakers adjourned.
After the latest standoffs, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats “want this chaos.” She added that some lawmakers were heading to the airport, which is affected by the same shutdown that the Republican Party is being held responsible for.
Q: “Are the TSA lines…going to be what ends the stalemate in Congress to get DHS funded?”
@PressSec Karoline Leavitt: “It’s the Democrats who have led to this stalemate…The cruelty is the point. They want this chaos. They want to distract…from the success of our military.” pic.twitter.com/9wQCsewj8U
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 25, 2026
Jeffries then referred to what Trump said in the Cabinet room when asked about negotiations to end the military conflict in the Middle East. While spending billions to drop bombs, TSA workers are without pay, but Trump says he “[doesn’t] care.”
Jeffries explained:
“He was effectively saying he doesn’t really care about the hardship being inflicted on the American people.”
Senate Democrats have been holding daily votes to fund TSA. But as of now, Republicans have blocked each of them as they insist the debate needs to be about all of DHS. The Democrats say that 50,000 workers shouldn’t starve while politicians argue.
