Trump signs executive order ensuring TSA workers are paid during DHS shutdown

He warned the combination of longer lines and declining morale is "unacceptably" heightening security risks and disrupting travel nationwide.

Trump said he is instructing DHS, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, to tap available funds connected to TSA operations to cover employee pay and benefits.

"Accordingly, I hereby direct the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown, consistent with applicable law, including 31 U.S.C. 1301(a)," Trump said.

In a post on X, DHS said TSA has begun steps to resume paying its workforce, with officers expected to see paychecks as early as Monday.

"President Trump has made the decision that echoes what TSA's frontline employees and the millions of Americans enduring terrible wait times at our airports are saying: the Democrat DHS shutdown has become an emergency," DHS wrote.

Trump previewed the action Thursday, vowing to address airport disruptions. 

A senior administration official told Fox News that funding from Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" will be used to ensure TSA officers are paid during the disruption.

"Not unlike actions taken during the first Democrat-shutdown (i.e., paying the troops), President Trump has determined that congressional Democrats have created an emergency situation that cannot be allowed to continue," White House Office of Management and Budget Communications Director Rachel Cauley said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr and Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.