Trump Directs DHS Secretary Mullin to Pay TSA Agents
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said that Trump could find ways to pay the TSA agents.
President Donald Trump said he will sign an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA agents.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
The Radical Left Democrats, and their “Leader,” Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, have made it very clear where they stand, and that is, ON THE SIDE OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS, AND NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. They are refusing to fund Immigration Enforcement unless the Republicans agree to their Open Border Policies, which will never, ever happen again. They almost destroyed our Country, allowing 25 Million People to enter from Prisons, Mental Institutions, and Insane Asylums, those that are Drug Dealers, and thousands of Murderers, many of whom killed more than one person. Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do! Therefore, 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. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it! I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports. I will not allow the Radical Left Democrats to hold our Country hostage any longer. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said that Trump could find ways to pay the TSA agents: “I’m not going to go into the details, other than to say that there is funding that can be used perfectly legally to pay TSA, to pay the rest of the coast guard, for example.”
The Democrats have refused to do anything to end the partial DHS shutdown, even after the Republicans mostly caved to them.
In fact, the Democrats blocked DHS funding moments after Trump’s announcement:
The motion to advance the bill failed by a vote of 53 to 47. It needed 60 votes to advance. Centrist Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote “yes.” It marked the seventh time since DHS funding lapsed on Feb. 14 that Democrats voted against the measure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) kept the vote open for hours to give Republican and Democratic negotiators time to hammer out the details of a deal to split off funding for Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) emergency removals operation from appropriations for the rest of DHS.
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Comments
Could the TSA’s work be classified as “essential”?
Being classified as essential just means that you are required to work, not that you will be paid.
Yes. There work related to national security.
Ha, checkmate for the Dems. The question is will they now sue to stop payment and maintain chaos for the traveling public?
If they do, any judge who signs a restraining order/injunction becomes the person taking food out of the mouths of 50,000 families. That’s a big step for any single judge to take, and it might make them more inclined to issue a stay while they spend a few weeks “studying” the case.
“…other than to say that there is funding that can be used perfectly legally to pay TSA, to pay the rest of the coast guard, for example.”
Well, of course. It’s almost like there’s billions in cash on a pallet in a D.C. warehouse for emergencies.
Thanks for telling us, Susan, after weeks of chaos throughout the nation’s airports.
Why does all of this drama remind me of middle school??
What I don’t like about this is that Trump is pulling an iron from the fire which will benefit the Ds. The long lines reminded travelers that the Ds were the cause of their inconvenience.
There’s also the issue of the funds not having been appropriated.
Yahbut… another government employee union has it crammed into their faces which party actually cared about their families when the other side threw them under the bus like hostages.
It will demonstrate that the Dems were the problem all along and now Trump is a hero for solving the crisis.
There may be funds appropriated for “national emergencies.”
Guess who is likely to have the authority to declare an emergency.
Using what authority? Nothing is specified. The president can’t simply say “Pay them because I said so”!
There are always unallocated funds in an agency budget, set aside for upcoming projects or buildings or leasing. Similarly, there are emergency funds in various inter-agency corners which can be diverted into TSA salaries on a short term, but the “end of fiscal year bubble” that all agencies accumulate is likely to be popped first, vehicle purchases suspended, conferences cancelled (if there are any left), capital improvement funds diverted, and in particular any funds that went to blue-state senator areas. The Dems will howl, but every dollar is going to be accompanied with a legal justification.
Go on Democrats, I double dare you to use that strategy to stop Trump paying TSA staff 🤣🤣
Congress appropriates funds, the Executive branch spends them in accordance with specific directions, if any, put in the spending bills by Congress. If Congress leaves something vague and the WH can make the case the money can be used for other purposes tied to the funding in some fashion then it can reallocate funds. This has been done by every President in my memory. It hasn’t been revealed yet where Trump is moving the money from but Sen. Susan Collins, no MAGA person herself, is in charge of Senate appropriations and said what he was doing was perfectly legal.
I’ll be interested in hearing where Trump is reallocating the money from and if Dems will fight paying the Coast Guard, FEMA and TSA.
Sure he can. He just did. You keep conflating ‘can not’ with ‘should not’.
Can not is a physical impossibility. A human being without the aid of any tools, machinery, mechanical leverage and otherwise unassisted …’Can not’ lift a 10ft, X 10ft X 10 ft cube of solid granite.
Should not on the other hand are things that are physically possible but carry negative consequences. Might be criminal penalties, exposure to civil tort claim damages, social stigma, reputation damage, shunning…but that doesn’t preclude the action.
As for authority… in the short term he has all the authority he needs. Just as a rouge District Judge does he can order all sorts of things to be done or refrain from doing things until an appeals court or really SCOTUS makes a ruling adverse to his action/inaction. If that’s fine for an unelected Federal District Judge then its fine for the Unitary Executive selected through a National election.
Specifically I’d argue that the logic of the Defense Production Act authorizing the President to force private companies to make the products he deems necessary would at minimum grant presumption he could pay the salary of TSA security screening personnel during a shooting conflict with Iran which is not only the primary exporter of terrorism but has made credible threats to use terrorist attacks on the homeland.
Trump claims to have the power under the National Emergency Act and that there are funds available.
Because the TSA and Coast Guard are integral to National Security the President can designated the Department of War to bring them under that Department until the emergency is over. Then the Department of War takes over the administration of those agencies, including paying their salaries. During WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm the Coast Guard was brought under the Department of War until the declared emergency was over.
GOP caves.
Hard to see how this improves enthusiasm for the mid terms.
I thought you said euthanasia because that is what the Repubs in Congress are doing to the party.
Can anyone see Shumah as a Bielski Partisan?
How did Obama and Biden send pallets of cash to Iran? What budget covered that?
USAID, I bet.
It was their money. None of it came from the US treasury, so none of it had to be appropriated first.
america soooo afraid of the criminals that its a breath of fresh air when something that should be normal…paying people for their work….is seen as some sort of breakthrough
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