Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Homan said he has spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Saturday and that he understands workers’ frustration as the partial government shutdown enters its 44th day.
“I talked to Secretary Markwayne Mullin yesterday. There is a plan to get these TSA agents paid, hopefully, tomorrow or Tuesday,” Homan said. “Your heart goes out to them because they are sitting there right now working very hard and not being paid, while members of Congress now are on vacation and getting paid.”
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Homan’s remark follows an emergency directive from Trump ordering the Department of Homeland Security to use available funds to pay roughly 50,000 TSA workers who have missed multiple paychecks since the shutdown began in mid-February.
The lapse in pay has strained airport operations nationwide, creating long security lines as hundreds of officers have quit or called out daily. At some airports, wait times stretched for hours as the shutdown entered its sixth week.
The emergency payments are intended to stabilize airport security operations ahead of peak spring travel, though they do not resolve the broader funding crisis affecting DHS.
Congress remains at an impasse over how to fully fund the agency, with disputes centered on immigration enforcement policy.
The Senate passed a funding measure earlier this week that would reopen most of DHS but excluded funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Those provisions have been opposed by House Republicans.
ICE was recently deployed to airports nationwide to aid in crowd control and security measures due to TSA shortages, but it is unclear if ICE will remain in place once TSA workers are paid.
House GOP leaders instead advanced their own short-term funding bill that includes full immigration enforcement funding, but that proposal faces opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers have already left Washington for a two-week recess.
Because both chambers must pass identical legislation to end the shutdown, the Senate’s absence complicates any immediate resolution. Lawmakers would need to be called back to Washington to consider the House-passed measure to negotiate a compromise.
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The standoff has effectively forced the House to remain engaged on DHS funding, as failure to pass a bill acceptable to both chambers prolongs the shutdown and its effects on federal operations.
While the White House’s order is expected to deliver short-term relief to TSA officers, other DHS employees, including those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, remain unpaid.
