The US Senate on Friday passed legislation that will provide funds to pay thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who were forced to go without pay for five weeks due to a dispute between the White House and Congress over immigration enforcement and funding.
Friday’s bill, which passed in a rare overnight vote, would provide funding to most of Homeland Security, including the TSA and the US Coast Guard, but would block funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“This agreement funds TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, CISA, strengthens security at the border and ports of entry, and keeps America safe,” Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.
“Democrats remain steadfast in our opposition that Donald Trump’s evil and deadly militias should not get more funding without serious reforms,” Schumer said.
Political infighting led to massive wait times at airports and unpaid wages for TSA workers
Both ICE and CBP are now at the center of a 42-day funding battle, with congressional Democrats initially blocking the funding in response to President Donald Trump’s massive and chaotic deployment of armed and masked federal agents to almost exclusively Democrat-ruled cities.
The aggressive approach of ICE and CBP deployments and the perceived immunity enjoyed by those agents have led to several violent conflicts between agents and civilians.
In January, ICE agents shot and killed two US citizens – one of whom was unarmed and the other who was legally carrying a gun – within days of each other. Both men were involved in a dispute over ICE agents arresting “illegal immigrants” and attempting to disperse protesters and observers.
Earlier Friday, Democrats had offered to defund various agencies individually as a way to defuse a weeks-long funding battle, but President Trump ordered congressional Republicans to refuse the move.
Despite complaining about Democrats’ tactics, Trump insisted on full funding and told Republicans that no bills should be considered before passage of his so-called Save America Act — a controversial new bill that Republicans and the president claim would require voters to show a passport or birth certificate to vote. Democrats have called the initiative a cheap attempt to disenfranchise voters.
On Thursday, Trump pushed back against Democrats and vowed to take executive action to pay 50,000 TSA workers if Congress doesn’t act.
After passing the Senate, the bill will now go to the House of Representatives for final consideration.
Edited by: Alex Berry