WH: Funds to Pay TSA, ICE Running Out  04/29 06:10

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is warning Congress that funding to pay 
Department of Homeland Security personnel will "soon run out," sparking new 
threats of airport disruptions and national security concerns as the House 
slow-walks legislation to end what has been the longest-ever lapse in agency 
funding.

   In a memo late Tuesday to lawmakers, the Office of Management and Budget 
said money that President Donald Trump tapped to pay Transportation Security 
Administration and other workers through executive actions will be exhausted by 
May. It called on the House to quickly approve the budget resolution senators 
approved in an all-night session last week that would pave the way for full 
funding for the department.

   "DHS will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential 
personnel and operations at risk," the memo said.

   The pressure from the Trump administration could help House Speaker Mike 
Johnson, whose narrow Republican majority has been stalled out, tangled in 
internal party disputes on a range of pending issues, including the Homeland 
Security funding. They have left the chamber at a virtual standstill.

   The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the Senate budget 
resolution that is designed to unlock a multistep process to eventually fund 
the department, and the administration warned GOP lawmakers off making changes 
that could prolong passage.

   "Restoring funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has never 
been more urgent, as demonstrated by recent events," the memo said, a nod to 
the situation over the weekend when a man armed with guns and knives tried to 
storm the annual White House correspondents' dinner that Trump, the vice 
president and top Cabinet officials were attending.

   Homeland Security shutdown is longest ever

   Homeland Security has been operating without regular funds for more than two 
months after Democrats refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 
Border Patrol without changes to those operations after the deaths of Americans 
protesting Trump's deportation agenda.

   While immigration enforcement workers have largely been paid through the 
flush of new cash -- some $170 billion -- that Congress approved as part of 
Trump's tax cuts bill last year, others, including TSA, have had to rely on 
Trump's intervention through executive action to ensure their paychecks.

   But with salaries topping $1.6 billion every two weeks, DHS Secretary 
Markwayne Mullin said recently, those funds are drying up.

   Complicated budget strategy ahead

   House and Senate Republicans have embarked on a go-it-alone strategy, 
attempting to approve funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border 
Patrol without Democrats. They want to provide $70 billion for those 
immigration operations for the remainder of Trump's term to ensure no further 
interruptions.

   It's a cumbersome process, the same that was used last year to approve 
Trump's tax cuts bill, that will play out over several weeks.

   The Senate launched the process last week, and is now waiting on the House 
to act. Once that budget resolution is approved, both the House and Senate are 
expected to draft the actual funding bill, a process that can take weeks.

   In the meantime, Johnson is expected to quickly turn this week to 
legislation that would fund the other parts of Homeland Security, including 
TSA, the Coast Guard and other agencies.

   That bipartisan bill has support from Democrats and already passed the 
Senate a month ago, when Republicans reluctantly agreed to carve out the 
immigration-related funds that Democrats had opposed. But it has been stalled 
out in the House, as Republicans in that chamber disagreed with the Senate's 
approach.