With no-shows by unpaid TSA agents imposing hours-long security-line waits and missed flights on flyers at major airports across the country, senators on Monday night signaled that a deal to end the TSA crisis is finally within sight.
The leap toward a deal followed a White House meeting of a group of Republican senators hosted by President Trump. “It went really well,” said Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, who was among the attendees. Asked if the group had a solution in hand, she replied "We do." Optimistic signals came from the other side of the aisle as well. “Both sides are talking in a serious way," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told the Wall Street Journal on his way out of the Capitol on Monday night.
The crisis sprang from Democrats' refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless reforms are made to how Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carry out their duties. Those demands came after ICE agents shot two aggressive anti-ICE activists to death in two separate incidents in Minnesota.
Some of the leftists' demands may actually be considered reasonable by those right-wingers and libertarians who are wary of police overreach -- such measures include refraining from forcible entry into private homes without a warrant, a ban on agents wearing masks, and the implementation of body cameras. Democrats have also demanded an end to roving patrols and additional training on use of force and de-escalation. With Republicans only holding a 53-47 margin, the Democrats have the numbers to block funding, since it takes 60 votes to get by a filibuster.
The deal that's taking shape would fund all of the sprawling, 260,000-employee DHS except for Enforcement and Removal Operations, which is the ICE group that arrests and deports immigrants.
Money would flow to ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, which focuses on international crimes like human trafficking and drug smuggling, Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told the Journal.
As for the next step:
Coons and other Democrats said they expect an offer on paper from Republicans as soon as Tuesday, and the details would matter.
“Trust but verify. It’s part of the challenge of our dear president,” Coons said, making a roller-coaster motion with his hand.
-- WSJ
The shutdown started on Valentine's Day, and TSA and other DHS workers missed their first full paycheck on March 13. Things started getting progressively worse at the largest US airports, with nightmarish imagery of three-hour lines going viral on social media.
To improve the situation, the Trump administration ironically deployed ICE agents to airports to fill in for the no-show TSA employees. This leftist opted to heckle them:
Exasperatingly, the Democrats' shutdown hasn't even affected its main target: ICE has been going full-steam-ahead during the shutdown, tapping $75 million in appropriations in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill -- enough to keep ICE from melting for years.
Earlier on Monday, Trump had signaled that he wanted the deal to be reached by merging it with the SAVE America Act, which would make ID requirements for voting in federal elections more strict. It would also require proof of citizenship during voter registration. That avenue seemed unlikely then and even more so now.