US Congress faces heat to end funding shutdown

WASHINGTON — Pressure is mounting on the United States Congress to end the funding shutdown that has resulted in travel disruptions, missed paychecks and even warnings of airport closures, but lawmakers have yet to resolve the underlying issue of reining in the administration's immigration enforcement operations.

Senators were expected to vote on Thursday on a Republican proposal to fund the Transportation Security Administration and much of the Department of Homeland Security, except for the enforcement and removal operations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But it was expected to fail.

Democrats argue the plan does not go far enough at putting guardrails on ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal officers who are engaged in the administration's immigration sweeps.

With Congress set to leave town by week's end for its own spring break recess, calls are intensifying for an end to the 41-day stalemate that has put the livelihoods of TSA officers at risk as they provide airport security without pay.

"This is a dire situation," acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified at a House hearing on Wednesday.

She described the multiple hardships facing unpaid TSA workers — piling up bills and eviction notices, even donating plasma to make ends meet — and warned of potential airport closures if more employees refuse to come to work. Daily callout rates have increased to 11 percent nationwide.

"At this point, we have to look at all options on the table," she said. "And that does require us to, at some point, make very difficult choices as to which airports we might try to keep open and which ones we might have to shut down as our callout rates increase."

Trading blame

US President Donald Trump has largely stayed out of the public debate over the path his party should take to end the standoff. But he criticized Democrats for refusing to settle their demands on immigration changes.

"Blame the Democrats for the airport's mess. They want our country to do badly. They want our country to fail," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X: "Senate Republicans have now blocked TSA funding nine times. They are solely responsible for the chaos travelers are experiencing."

Democrats have called for reforms to immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, but Republicans have repeatedly rejected their demands, resulting in a deadlock in negotiations.

Against that backdrop, the Department of Homeland Security funding expired on Feb 13.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Wednesday that if Democrats put a "more realistic offer on the table, we'll be back in business".

While the Republican offer added one new restraint on immigration officers — funding body cameras that had previously been agreed to — it excluded other policies that Democrats have demanded, such as requiring federal agents to wear identification and remove their face masks.

Agencies - Xinhua