Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay DHS Employees During Shutdown

President Donald Trump said on April 2 that he will sign an order to pay all employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid a shutdown that has lasted 48 days.

He announced the move in a social media post, saying that DHS employees have “suffered far too long” during the funding impasse. Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown.

He added, “Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers.”

The move came after Trump last week signed an order to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to ease delays in security lines at airports across the country. TSA agents started receiving their pay on March 30.

The Senate has again sent a DHS funding proposal to the House, extending a weeks-long standoff. As it stands, the funding lapse will likely continue into next week as House members consider the Senate’s plan.

The House has possession of a Senate funding proposal that it previously rejected that would fund the bulk of DHS agencies, but not immigration enforcement operations.

As of April 2, the funding standoff has reached its 48th day, and both chambers of Congress have met in an attempt to reach an agreement on acceptable terms for funding the agency.

During the short joint session, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) dismissed the House plan to fund the agency in total for 60 days.

Later, the House met, but didn’t take up the bipartisan plan sent by the Senate.

“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”

This comes a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Thune announced a plan to fully fund DHS.

In a joint statement sent to The Epoch Times on April 1, the Republican leaders explained how lawmakers will push the plan forward after Trump demanded a filibuster-proof bill on his desk by June 1.

“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” the joint statement reads.

The House previously rejected a Senate-passed bill that did not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but passed a bill that would fund ICE entirely for 60 days, including the enforcement agencies.

On April 1, however, Republican leaders from both branches of Congress said they would pursue a two-track approach.

The first track would be a Senate plan to fund most of the agency, with the exception of ICE and CBP. Republicans would later look to fund those through another spending bill.

Trump said on April 1 that he hoped the process to fund DHS, which oversees ICE, CBP, and TSA, would be a quick one.

“We are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on the morning of April 1.

“I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st.”

Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.