Noem Uses Unique Tool to Pressure Democrats on DHS Funding Deal
Virginia Allen /
President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced that, effective Sunday, members of Congress will no longer receive courtesy escorts to their flights at U.S. airports during the partial government shutdown.
“Shutdowns have real-world consequences,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Transportation Security Administration, which provides the escorts.
“The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians,” Noem said in a statement.
Courtesy escorts for members of Congress and their families usually allow members to bypass security lines and move quickly to their flight with the guidance of a TSA staffer or law enforcement official.
DHS initially announced plans over the weekend to temporarily pause TSA PreCheck and Global Entry at airports as the partial shutdown continues, but later reversed course. TSA PreCheck remains open for now.
Over a week has passed since Congress failed to reach a deal to fully fund the Homeland Security Department.
Democrats are demanding that any funding bill contain major reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as requiring agents to stop wearing masks. DHS argues that masks help to protect the identities of agents amid what they claim is a 1,300% increase in assaults against immigration enforcement agents.
TSA workers won’t receive pay during the shutdown, but traditionally have received back pay when the government reopens.
The partial government shutdown is based on “stupidity,” according to Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center.
“What the Democratic leadership is trying to do is pressure the administration and to stop enforcing immigration law,” Hankinson told The Daily Signal. “And how they think they can achieve that by shutting down everything except the part of the government that enforces immigration law.”
Despite the DHS shutdown, both ICE and Customs and Border Protection already received billions in funding under the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Democrat strategy to withhold funding from DHS in order to reform ICE is an “ineffective extortion attempt,” according to Hankinson.