President Donald Trump wants TSA agents to “GO TO WORK” amid the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
The DHS shutdown began last month after lawmakers failed to reach a deal on funding the agency. Many TSA employees missed their first full paycheck this week, and in recent days, travelers have reported hours-long lines at airports across the country.
Now, Trump has praised the TSA agents who are going to work. He specifically thanked Johnny Jones, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100, which represents thousands of TSA employees across the country.
“Thank you to Johnny Jones and all of our GREAT TSA Agents who are going to work but not being paid because the Radical Left Democrats refuse to honor the deal that was approved and voted on in Congress,” Trump wrote in a Saturday morning Truth Social post.
“They want your money to go to ‘Border Criminals, Murderers, foreign Drug Dealers, and some of the worst people on earth,’” he continued. “They don’t want it to go to you. Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK! I promise that I will never forget you!!! President DJT.”
Jones, who also reportedly works as a TSA officer at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, has been outspoken about the impacts of the ongoing DHS shutdown.
“I appreciate the President’s support and attention, and hope he can help get this shutdown resolved quickly so our members can get the paychecks they’ve earned,” Jones said in a statement shared with The Independent.
He told NPR this week that many TSA employees live paycheck to paycheck, which means they’re now “not paying their bills because they don’t have any money.” Jones also told CNN that he’s “seeing desperation in the eyes of my coworkers.”
“A lot of people don’t have that [stability]. They never recover,” he said. “They don’t have the levers to pull to help them weather the storm, I’m afraid.”
DHS funding lapsed in mid-February, just months after federal employees endured the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
This week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of blocking his party’s attempts to fund certain parts of DHS, including TSA, as the standoff continues.
“Democrats have tried—six separate times—to pass simple bills to keep these critical parts of DHS running while negotiations continue. Six times Republicans came to the floor and blocked them,” Schumer said Thursday.
“TSA officers shouldn’t miss paychecks, disaster relief shouldn’t be left hanging, and Americans’ safety shouldn’t be collateral damage in a political standoff Republicans created,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has claimed Democratic lawmakers are “opposing even sitting down and talking and negotiating on the things they say they want.”
“It’s hard to get to a solution when you have one party that refuses to even sit down and talk. This is kind of a new low, really,” the Republican lawmaker said Tuesday.
The Trump administration has also repeatedly blamed Democrats for the funding lapse. In a statement shared Wednesday, the White House said Democrats are “at peace with the hardships their political shutdown has created” for TSA agents.
