Senators were packing for a two-week spring recess. TSA officers were calculating whether they could make rent.

On Thursday, with airport security lines stretching past two hours and nearly 500 transportation security officers having already quit, President Donald Trump announced he would sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to pay TSA agents immediately — bypassing the congressional appropriations process entirely.

“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump wrote on social media.

The move came on Day 41 of a partial government shutdown that has left roughly 50,000 TSA personnel working without pay, jammed airports across the country, and triggered what the acting TSA administrator called “the highest wait times in TSA history.”

The human cost piles up

By Friday, TSA workers will have missed an estimated $1 billion in paychecks, according to testimony this week from acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill.

“Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off, lost their childcare, defaulted on loans, damaged their credit line, and drained their retirement savings,” McNeill told Congress. “Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet.”

The workforce is hemorrhaging. Nearly 500 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began in February, according to the Department of Homeland Security. On Wednesday alone, more than 11% of scheduled TSA employees — over 3,120 workers — did not show up.

At major hubs, the situation is worse. Callout rates exceeded 30% at JFK, both Houston airports, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Atlanta, according to DHS data.

Travelers are feeling the consequences. At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Melissa Gates waited more than 2½ hours without reaching the security checkpoint. She missed her flight to Baton Rouge. No other seats were available until Friday.

“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”

A constitutional end-run

The funding mechanism for Trump’s order remains murky. A senior administration official told CBS News the White House plans to use funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — Trump’s signature tax and domestic policy law from last summer — to cover TSA wages. The official compared the move to Trump’s decision last fall to keep paying military members during a previous shutdown by repurposing Defense Department funds.

But the legal authority is unclear. Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said it’s uncertain how Trump plans to pay TSA officers legally. The White House has not clarified what provision of the law would be used or how long the funding would last.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called Trump’s move “a short-term solution” that “takes the immediate pressure off” as negotiations continue.

The order does nothing for other DHS employees at FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who also remain unpaid.

The standoff in Congress

The shutdown stems from a Democratic refusal to fund DHS without new restrictions on immigration enforcement following the deaths of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — shot by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Democrats have demanded that ICE agents wear identification, remove face masks, and refrain from conducting raids near schools, churches, and other sensitive locations. They also want judicial warrants required before agents search homes or private spaces.

Republicans have rejected repeated Democratic proposals to fund TSA separately while negotiating broader enforcement reforms.

On Thursday evening, the Senate failed for the seventh time to advance DHS funding, voting 53-47 along party lines. Thune said he had delivered a “last and final” offer to Democrats, though he declined to disclose details. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters negotiations had been “actively talking all day, trading offers all day.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has deployed hundreds of ICE and Homeland Security Investigations officers to 14 U.S. airports to assist with security screening — agents who are being paid during the shutdown while TSA workers are not.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 47,000 TSA officers, welcomed Trump’s order but noted the uncertainty remains for thousands of other DHS workers.

“Congress needs to continue working to pass a real, bipartisan appropriations deal that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running — even if that means canceling their upcoming vacation,” Kelley said.

Sources