Musk offers to pay TSA salaries, amid budget battle
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, says he will cover the salaries of U.S. Transportation Security Administration officials during their second unpaid work stoppage in six months due to a prolonged federal funding cut.
Also Saturday, President Donald Trump threatened to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to U.S. airports unless congressional Democrats immediately agree to fund airport security.
“I will be moving our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents into Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
The budget impasse over funding for TSA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is in its fifth week. Screeners and other TSA staff are days away from missing a second full paycheck, but they’re being pressured to show up as screening times stretch by hours at some airports.
TSA officers have called in sick in recent weeks because their paychecks have dried up. The lack of security guards has led to travel disruptions at major airports.
“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively impacting the lives of many Americans at airports across the country,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.
Representatives for DHS, TSA and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Airlines and travel groups say absenteeism among TSA’s nearly 50,000 airport security guards could rise again this weekend. TSA workers earn an average of $61,000 ($86,759) annually, according to federal data.
Airports are hosting food drives and accepting donations for security guards during the partial US government shutdown.
DHS funding timelines remain uncertain. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday that bipartisan negotiators have narrowed down remaining disagreements on DHS funding, but a deal is not yet finalized.
In February, Democrats in Congress agreed to fund much of the government in exchange for cutting funding from DHS following the killings of two U.S. citizens by immigration authorities in Minnesota.
Last year, President Donald Trump said a wealthy donor had provided US$130 million ($185 million) to help cover potential military pay shortfalls caused by a government shutdown that lasted 43 days, the longest in US history.
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