Airport travel chaos continues as DHS funding freeze becomes longest partial shutdown in history – US politics live | US news
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Trump says he has “no problem” with Russian oil tanker bringing aid to Cuba despite blockade
President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he had “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering aid to the island, which is on its knees due to a U.S. oil blockade.
“We have a tanker there. We don’t mind if someone takes a boatload because they… need to survive,” Trump told reporters as he headed back to Washington.
When asked if the New York Times’ report that the tanker would be allowed to reach Cuba was true, Trump said, “I told them this: If a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem whether that country is Russia or not.”
Russia’s Ministry of Transport said Monday that the oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the Cuban port of Matanzas carrying “humanitarian supplies” containing about 730,000 barrels of oil, AP reported.
The ship was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine.
Airport travel chaos continues amid longest closure in US history
Hello, welcome to the live blog of US politics.
As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown becomes the longest in U.S. history, airports continue to warn travelers to arrive several hours early due to unpredictable wait times from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Congress and Donald Trump have made several attempts to direct government money to DHS or directly to the DHS-funded TSA, but each has failed due to stalemate over changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
With 193,867 employees, representing 9.4% of the total federal workforce, DHS is the fourth-largest agency in the U.S. government. More than 480 TSA employees have left completely since the start of the shutdown, the agency said.
White House border czar Tom Homan said it depends on how many TSA workers return to work once they start getting paid.
“ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters at TSA. We’ll be there for as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and until they feel like the airports are safe,” he told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’.
Speaking on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Homan said it also depends on how many TSA agents “actually resign and have no plans to return to work.” According to DHS, nearly 500 TSA officers have left the agency since the shutdown began.
He added that he hopes TSA officers will be paid by today or Tuesday. “This is good news because these TSA officers are struggling,” Homan said. “They can’t support their families, they can’t pay their rent.”
Trump signed a memo late Friday ordering DHS to refund wages to TSA employees who missed two paychecks, but it’s unclear where that money would come from and whether he could legally direct the agency to pay employees.
presidential memorandum He directed DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin to send funds “that have a reasonable and reasonable connection to TSA operations” to pay wages and benefits that “would accrue” to TSA employees had there been no shutdown.
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Despite full and partial bans in some states in the USA, the abortion rate remains stable. This is largely due to a significant increase in cross-state travel and telehealth appointments, a new report says. More here.
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Pope Leo says God ignores prayers of leaders who wage war and have “hands full of blood”As a clear rebuke to the Trump administration. The pope made the comments on Sunday as thousands of US troops arrived in the Middle East.
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More than 8 million people protested the Trump administration at more than 3,300 No Kings events Saturday across the U.S. and more than a dozen countries, according to organizers.
