President Donald Trump on Friday issued a memo ordering that the remaining Department of Homeland Security employees be paid during a record-long partial government shutdown impacting the agency.
“I hereby direct the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS to provide each and every employee of DHS with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown, consistent with applicable law,” Trump wrote in the memo.
Trump's move comes with lawmakers deadlocked on how to end the shutdown. Democrats are seeking changes to Trump's immigration enforcement policies, but congressional Republicans and the White House have balked at those demands. The president's directive, which he announced earlier this week that he intended to sign, led House Republicans to abandon talk of cutting short a two-week Easter recess to try and end the impasse.
Last week, Trump announced measures to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone without pay for almost six weeks, drawing on a $170 billion slush fund created under the tax bill passed last year. The shutdown had led to long security lines at airports and delays for air travel, frustrating Americans and raising the political risk for both parties ahead of November midterms.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents have also been paid during the shutdown. The remaining DHS workers have been working without pay, or at home on furlough.
The president's actions have spurred questions over his ability to redirect spending without a vote by Congress.
The Senate had unanimously agreed to fund all of the DHS except ICE and Border Patrol. House Republicans, though, rejected that bill. The House backed a rival 60-day stopgap funding bill, but House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have acknowledged it has no chance of overcoming a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
Democrats are seeking changes to ICE enforcement, including stopping agents from using masks in some situations and requiring a judicial warrant to enter homes.
Republican leaders and Trump have now set a June 1 deadline to pass a partisan budget reconciliation bill to boost ICE and Border Patrol funding without the help of Senate Democrats.
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