DHS funding talks stall as airport chaos worsens
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown as DHS remains without funding. Democrats continue to push for ICE reform as airports lose more workers.
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The Senate was again unable to end the Homeland Security shutdown on Thursday despite signs of a possible breakthrough to end the long-running closure, which prompted President Donald Trump to make a move.
Senate Democrats blocked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for a seventh time as the partial shutdown entered its 41st day on Thursday, after Senate Republicans made a new offer earlier in the day after late night negotiations.
Trump then ordered DHS to pay airport workers on, and accused “their ‘Leader,’ Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” of making it clear where Democrats stand, “and that is, ON THE SIDE OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS, AND NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
“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 said on Truth Social. “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”
Still, several other components of the agency, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are still without funding.
DEMS BLOCK DHS FUNDING AFTER GOP REJECTS THEIR COUNTER, THUNE SAYS SCHUMER ‘GOING IN CIRCLES’
US President Donald Trump walks to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 23, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
The vote stayed open for several hours to allow for talks between both sides to continue, but by the fifth hour, Trump pulled the trigger on funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“We’ve held the vote open for five hours to give the…
