After more than six weeks of government shutdown—the longest
in U.S. history—both House and Senate leadership have landed on a bipartisan
bill they believe can muster votes to reopen the Department of Homeland
Security. The bill appears to be revitalized from one House Republicans dismissed
as “a joke” last Friday. It does not include the funding for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement that republicans were holding out for, but it also does not
address ICE reforms that democrats were demanding.
The bill does, however, restore funding for the
Transportation Security Administration, which had been caught in the political
crossfire, causing TSA workers to go without pay for more than six weeks. The
resulting resignations and job callouts due to “illness” escalated quickly
without Congressional resolution to fund DHS and get TSA paid. Lines stretched as
long as four hours in airports like George W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in
Houston and Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta in the final
days before President Donald Trump intervened to order DHS to pay TSA workers.
Back pay began to arrive to some workers as early as Monday.
Most workers reported check amounts for two, two-week pay periods. Some reimbursements
were problematic, though, with workers reporting they didn’t get fully paid
retroactively and were waiting for more. The other waiting game earlier this
week was to understand when that next payment would come, since the facility for
that was not specifically addressed.
The current congressional bill would answer that question,
fully funding TSA workers as Senate and House representatives hammer out the details
on ICE funding, which has been sent to a parallel reconciliation process. The
current bill would fund DHS through September.
The promise of back pay earlier this week was enough to get TSA
agents back to work in critical roles. Even on Monday, security lines at heavily
impacted airports had smoothed. By Wednesday, lines were down to just a few
minutes, though the traveling public, according to several news reports out of
Houston and Atlanta, was still wary and arriving very early for their flights.
The bipartisan bill is likely to pass on Thursday, despite
the two-week Congressional recess. They are scheduled for a special session on Thursday
morning in which they are able to take up stalled legislation, approve as long
as no one objects and move such bills to the desk of the president, who has
indicated he will sign it.
What happens after September 30 isn't known. The bill does not bake in any protections for TSA workers who have experienced two lengthy government shutdowns in the last 6 months.