The Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 44th day Friday as House Republicans rejected a Senate compromise that would have funded most of the agency, choosing instead to prolong a crisis that has produced record airport delays and left nearly 61,000 TSA employees working without pay .
The Senate reached a deal early Friday to fund most of DHS, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection , but the House passed its own version that would fund Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol, through May 22, 2026 . The competing measures ensure the shutdown will continue at least until Congress returns from its two-week recess on April 13.
” There is a bipartisan bill that every single senator, Democrats and Republicans, supported, that has the votes to pass today ,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday, criticizing Republicans for extending the crisis.
Three House Democrats voted with 209 House Republicans and independent Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA) for the 60-day extension. The Democratic defectors were: Reps. Henry Cuellar (TX), Don Davis (NC), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) .
The political standoff has created unprecedented disruption at U.S. airports, where acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified Wednesday that travelers are experiencing “highest wait times” at airports in the agency’s history . Airports are dealing with the “highest wait times in history” as TSA absences top 40% at some airports. She said more than 480 officers have quit during the shutdown .
The human toll on federal workers has been severe. In testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, McNeill detailed how “Officers are reportedly sleeping in their cars at airports to save gas money, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second and third jobs to make ends meet, all while expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public” .
TSA employees have already worked 87 days without getting paid in FY 2026, and by this Friday, March 27, we will be at nearly $1 billion in payroll that has not been paid in a timely manner , McNeill said.
The crisis began February 14 when Democrats refused to fund DHS after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis as part of a federal immigration crackdown . Democratic lawmakers refused to pass an appropriations bill that would fund DHS unless the agency implemented new guardrails on federal immigration agents .
President Trump has sought to ease political pressure by announcing he would pay TSA workers through executive order, though the mechanism remains unclear. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said he doesn’t know where that money is coming from, but he’s seen the president “pull a rabbit out of a hat” before .
The airport disruptions have affected millions of travelers during peak spring break season. Wait times for travelers of 3.5 hours reported at major hubs due to officer shortages have become commonplace. The TSA lines at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport stretched for more than three hours again Monday morning, the agency reported. Similar wait times were seen there on Sunday. The airport continues to advise passengers to arrive four to five hours before their flights .
In response to staffing shortages, Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports nationwide. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel are equipped to assist airport screeners after receiving two days of training, the head of the Transportation Security Administration told lawmakers on Wednesday, who said the agents and officers are checking travelers’ identification and managing crowd control .
The deployment has drawn criticism from Democrats and TSA union leaders who question whether ICE agents with minimal training can adequately fill roles typically requiring months of preparation.
The shutdown’s duration has already exceeded the record 43-day shutdown last fall that affected all of the federal government . The timing is particularly concerning with the FIFA World Cup approaching in June, when millions of international visitors are expected to travel through U.S. airports.
“Even if TSA were to hire new officers upon conclusion of the DHS shutdown, those officers would not be able to work on the checkpoints until well after the World Cup has concluded,” she said. “We are facing a potential perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports” , McNeill warned.
The shutdown affects more than just TSA. The Department of Homeland Security’s funding lapsed on February 14, and the department has been shut down since that time , impacting the Coast Guard, FEMA, and cybersecurity agencies, though ICE continues operating with separate funding approved last year.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole expressed uncertainty about his party’s strategy Friday morning. “I don’t even know what it is yet,” House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole told CNN when asked Friday morning about whether he could support the plan .
With both chambers in recess until mid-April, the earliest resolution appears weeks