President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform Thursday that he will sign an executive order instructing newly sworn-in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA workers immediately, calling the ongoing DHS shutdown an "Emergency Situation."
In a Cabinet meeting at the White House earlier Thursday, Trump said that he might have to take "drastic measures" unless the shutdown ended soon.
It is unclear under what legal authority Trump is issuing the order. Congress has the "power of the purse," meaning lawmakers generally direct how federal funding is to be used.
According to a senior administration official, the Transportation Security Administration officers will be paid using money already approved by Congress through President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill signed last summer.
"Money provided by President Trump's OBBB will be used to pay TSA," the senior administration official said, referring to the legislation that has been called the "One Big Beautiful Bill."
During the last government shutdown in the fall, the Trump administration also shifted funds around to keep some payments going.
For example, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use "all available funds" to pay some 2 million service members. The Pentagon later clarified that the money -- about $8 billion -- came out of the Department of Defense's research, development and testing budget. A spokesperson said at the time that the funds were "unobligated" and from the previous fiscal year.
In addition to active duty troops, members of the Coast Guard, which is under the umbrella of DHS, also received paychecks during the last shutdown. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed those funds came from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.
It is unclear if Trump's order will result in a one-time payment or when the TSA officers can expect to receive the money. It's also unclear what the funding was originally slotted for.