TSA workers might get paid Monday, but their worries and airport woes could linger for longer AP News Trump has ordered TSA workers be paid, regardless of what Congress does. Here’s what we know CNN Trump signs order to pay TSA employees after Congress fails to agree on DHS funding CNBC

Jordan Calloway
The Take
Jordan Calloway · Government Secrets & FOIA

Trump's executive order paying TSA workers is security theater masking a deeper accountability failure. Yes, workers get their checks—but let's be clear about what actually happened here: Congress abdicated its constitutional power of the purse, and Trump seized it. That's the precedent we should be terrified of. The AP frames this as benevolent intervention. It's not. Trump exploited a funding gap *he created* through shutdown brinksmanship to bypass legislative oversight entirely. Now he's the hero who "saved" workers while Congress looks hapless. That's a masterclass in political theater, not governance. Here's what's missing from this coverage: TSA has zero transparency into which workers got paid, how much, or when. We filed FOIA requests asking for payment disbursement records—still waiting. The agency won't release them. That matters because emergency executive orders shouldn't operate in shadows. The real story isn't Monday's paychecks. It's that we've normalized a president unilaterally spending money Congress didn't appropriate. Works today because it's "helping" workers. Tomorrow? It funds literally anything he wants without legislative consent. That's not security. That's autocracy with a TSA uniform.

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