DHS Shutdown Hits Record 44 Days as TSA Workers Go Without Pay

At airport security checkpoints across the country, TSA officers showed up for another shift Sunday without a paycheck waiting on the other side. The partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security crossed into record territory on its 44th day, surpassing the previous U.S. mark of 43 days set last year during a Democratic effort to block Republicans from ending healthcare subsidies. With both congressional chambers headed toward Easter recess and no Senate deal within reach, the stalemate showed no signs of breaking.

The funding lapse began February 14, one day after a short-term extension expired. Congress had granted that bridge specifically to allow time for negotiations over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Patrol, talks that followed a federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota that resulted in the killing of two U.S. citizens in January. Reports emerged of masked immigration agents threatening bystanders and using disproportionate force, and on February 4, Democratic leaders in Congress issued a formal list of demands: ban ICE agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities, prohibit racial profiling, and end immigration raids on sensitive locations including schools and churches. Those negotiations collapsed. DHS ran out of money. It has not recovered one since.

Thousands of federal workers, TSA officers among them, have been required to work without pay for more than six weeks, producing staffing shortages and long lines at airport security checkpoints nationwide. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ensure TSA workers receive pay during the shutdown, but other DHS employees, including those who oversee disaster response and cybersecurity operations, remain affected and unpaid.

The House attempted to break the impasse Friday night, passing a two-month funding extension that would carry DHS through May 22. The vote was 213-203, largely along party lines. Three Democrats crossed over: Reps. Don Davis of North Carolina, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Henry Cuellar of Texas. More than a dozen lawmakers did not vote.

The bill arrived in the Senate effectively dead. Majority threshold rules require 60 votes, meaning Republicans need Democratic support they have not been able to find. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the House measure "dead on arrival." A fifth Senate attempt to fund the agency had already failed, and Democrats have filibustered GOP-authored legislation that includes immigration funding for the past six weeks. House Republicans, for their part, were furious that a Senate-side bill stripped out funding for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Patrol entirely.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who shepherded the eight-week extension through his chamber, framed the bill as a necessary bridge toward compromise. "In those eight weeks, we will figure this out with Democrats and figure out a couple of reforms or whatever they need to make sure that we do this right, but we are going to protect the homeland. We have to," Johnson said Friday evening. "It's the most important and most basic function of Congress, and Democrats don't want to do that."

Senators remained in Washington over the weekend for a rare session, debating the SAVE Act, a Republican bill requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. DHS funding was not on that agenda. With Easter recess approaching and no scheduled votes to advance the House extension, the record the shutdown set Sunday is unlikely to be the last one it breaks.