President Donald Trump announced Thursday he will sign an executive order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees as the historic partial government shutdown stretched into its seventh week, becoming the longest in U.S. history.

The shutdown reached 48 days on Thursday, surpassing all previous government funding lapses.

Roughly 61,000 TSA employees have been working without pay since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed February 14 , with employees missing more than $1 billion in pay, making it difficult for many to afford food, gas, housing, child care and other essentials.

The impasse stems from a deadly January incident that fractured congressional negotiations. On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, was shot multiple times and killed by two United States Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Following the killing of Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on January 24, 2026, Democrats in the Senate announced they would no longer support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bill, which funds CBP.

“I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security,” the president said in a post on Truth Social late Thursday morning.

The source of the funding was not immediately clear. Trump previously signed a memorandum on March 27 to restart pay for Transportation Security Administration workers using emergency funds.

The Senate took concrete steps Thursday to end the crisis. Hours earlier, the Senate unanimously approved a bill to partially reopen the department , funding the majority of DHS operations, but zero out funding for ICE and much of the Border Patrol, save for $11 billion in customs funding.

The measure, which does not include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol, is now with the House, where GOP members snubbed it last week and approved an entirely different plan that fully funded DHS.

The House did not take action on the Senate bill when it convened for a brief pro forma session, meaning the DHS shutdown will continue until at least Monday.

While the Senate has completed one track in passing the partial DHS funding bill, a House vote is unlikely to occur before the chamber returns from the recess on April 14.

The shutdown’s impact has been severe, particularly on air travel. Callout rates have spiked nationwide, with the highest single-day airport callout rate reaching 55% at Houston Hobby International Airport (HOU) on March 14, 2026.

Attrition has also surged, with 366 TSOs leaving the force. This loss compounds TSA’s ability to meet passenger demand, as each new TSO replacement requires 4-6 months to be trained and certified, leaving critical gaps in staffing.

Congressional leaders are pursuing a two-track strategy to resolve the crisis. The House is expected to consider the partial-funding measure this time, after Speaker Mike Johnson announced a two-track plan with Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday. Under the ambitious agreement, GOP leaders said they would move to end the partial shutdown by partially reopening DHS and then pursue a second, larger bill this spring that will include spending for the president’s immigration and border agenda.

Republicans plan to seek three years of full funding for ICE and the Border Patrol through a budget reconciliation process that would bypass Democratic opposition.

He posted on Truth Social that Congress must put a bill on his desk by June 1 to fund the department.

The Alex Pretti shooting that triggered this crisis remains under multiple investigations. Pretti was filming law enforcement agents with his phone and directing traffic. At one point, he stood between an agent and a woman the agent had pushed to the ground, putting his arm around her. He was then pepper sprayed and wrestled to the ground by several federal agents, with around six surrounding him when he was shot and killed.

The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez. The records viewed by ProPublica list Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, as the shooters during the deadly encounter last weekend that left Pretti dead and ignited massive protests and calls for criminal investigations.

Democrats have refused to pass funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without reforms to their practices.

Republicans are demanding specific guardrails on immigration enforcement operations before supporting full funding for DHS, which includes ICE.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged the challenges ahead. “Where we are is just a regrettable place,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters at the Capitol