Bills to pay FAA and TSA workers during shutdowns get introduced but keep stalling in Congress - AP News

Congress won't pass shutdown pay protection for TSA and FAA workers because neither party actually wants to solve the hostage-taking problem—they profit from it. Every shutdown is theater, a negotiating cudgel, and workers are the collateral damage both sides accept. Trump's executive order paying TSA agents is performative. He can't unilaterally appropriate funds; that's Congress's job under the Appropriations Clause. It's a press release with legal jeopardy attached. Meanwhile, Democratic leadership could force a vote on standalone worker protection right now. They don't. Republicans could pass it. They won't. I've reviewed the stalled bills—Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's version, the House variants. They're deliberately vague on funding mechanisms, which means they're designed to fail. Both parties use federal workers as leverage in their larger budget brawls. The FAA controllers working without pay, the TSA screeners skipping shifts? They're acceptable losses in a game where the real fight is over defense spending, healthcare, and immigration policy. Until Congress removes shutdown as a negotiating tool entirely—mandatory continuing resolutions, binding timelines—this cycle repeats. The bills will keep stalling. Workers will keep suffering. And nobody in leadership will admit they're okay with that.