Musk offers to pay TSA workers as DHS funding lapse airport hits
Sen. John Hoeven, RN.D., discusses the continuing partial authorities shutdown inflicting huge airport disruptions nationwide on ‘The Bottom Line.’
Elon Musk provided to cowl the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel through the ongoing authorities funding standoff.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk stated in an post on Saturday morning.
Musk’s provide comes as a partial authorities shutdown passes one month, with politicians unable to attain a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the TSA.
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Elon Musk has provided to cowl the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel through the ongoing authorities funding standoff. Musk is pictured talking onstage in Cannes, France. (Richard Bord/WireImage/Getty Images)
The DHS Shutdown has left TSA brokers working with out pay, triggering staffing shortages and lengthy airport strains nationwide, whereas elevating issues concerning the means to stop assaults.
Republicans have pushed to fund DHS, whereas Democrats have sought standalone funding for companies like TSA that will exclude immigration operations.
TSA officers are thought of important workers and are required to report to work even throughout a shutdown, though pay might be delayed.
Passengers wait in a check-in line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to go unfunded, in Arlington, Virginia, March 16, 2026. (REUTERS/Kylie Cooper / Reuters Photos)
Musk’s provide appeared aimed toward easing the pressure as airport strains develop and staffing pressures construct.
Major US airports have skilled extreme delays, with safety wait instances exceeding 3 hours in some instances, due to excessive TSA officer absenteeism. Hardest-hit airports embody Houston (HOU, IAH), Atlanta (ATL), New Orleans (MSY), and Philadelphia (PHL).
Footage from PHL, shot early Thursday morning, confirmed lots of of passengers ready on elevators and escalators to clear a safety checkpoint.
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TSA workers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on March 13, 2025. (Annabelle GORDON / AFP through Getty Images / Getty Images)
It comes as a high TSA union chief warned Thursday that airport safety dangers linked to the shutdown are set to “get worse,” on condition that TSA has been beneath a hiring freeze since final yr.
It stays unclear how Musk’s proposed association would work or whether or not it might be legally attainable for a non-public particular person to fund federal workers.
Fox News’ Ashley J. DiMella and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.
