Musk wades into DHS shutdown, floats paying TSA salaries
Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is offering to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees as the partial government shutdown stretches into another week.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote on social platform X, which he also owns, early Saturday morning.
It was not immediately clear how that process would work, or whether it would be legal, given that federal law generally prohibits government employees from receiving outside compensation tied to their official duties.
TSA workers could miss their second full paycheck next week as lawmakers remain deadlocked over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeming no closer to an agreement.
Democrats have dug their heels in on demands for sweeping changes in immigration enforcement operations, refusing to support any funding bill that does not include reforms within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The White House offered some concessions this week, agreeing to expand the use of body-worn cameras and limit immigration enforcement operations around “sensitive locations,” such as schools and hospitals.
But Republicans have held firm against other demands, including a ban on ICE officers and CBP agents wearing masks and requiring them to obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property, rather than the administrative warrants routinely used.
GOP lawmakers have also rebuffed recent Democratic attempts to force a vote to fund all other agencies within DHS, such as TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and U.S. Coast Guard, while excluding the immigration agencies.
The shutdown has strained air travel, with staffing shortages contributing to increasingly long lines at security checkpoints and fresh warnings that some smaller airports could be forced to temporarily close if the funding lapse persists.
A growing number of TSA officers are calling out sick or quitting, according to officials, who point to financial struggles as the leading factor.
More than 360 TSA officers have left the force since the shutdown began in mid-February, DHS reported on Tuesday. The administration also said that callout rates spiked above 50 percent in Houston and 30 percent in New Orleans and Atlanta earlier this week.
Some airports, such as Philadelphia International Airport, have already closed terminal checkpoints due to staffing problems, and senior TSA officials warned this week that the likelihood of more changes rises with each day.
“Small airports may be particularly impacted because they have fewer lanes and they have fewer people, and so, if a certain three or four out of 10 employees call out, we may, to ensure we’re not degrading security, we may have to temporarily suspend operations at those airports,” Deputy TSA administrator Adam Stahl said Thursday during an appearance on NewsNation.
“This is going to get worse before it gets better, particularly if we don’t have a resolution within the coming days and weeks,” he added.
Looks like 45-47 might move ICE Agents to TSA duties.
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