Air travel snarled nationwide as DHS shutdown drags into 40th day
Transportation Security Administration agents haven't been getting paid due to a Department of Homeland Security funding lapse as Republicans and Democrats engage in political wranglings.
Ted Cruz asks Senate clerk to hold his salary as DHS workers go unpaid
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has asked the Senate financial clerk to hold his salary as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) workers go unpaid during the partial government shutdown.
He shared a letter to the clerk on X that states, "For the remainder of the current partial lapse in appropriations, please hold my salary for pickup in the Disbursing Office."
"Due to the Democrat’s Shutdown, I’ve asked the Financial Clerk of the Senate to hold my salary," Cruz wrote in an accompanying X post. "It’s not right for Members of Congress to be paid if the working men and women of DHS aren’t."
DHS leaders to testify before House Homeland Security Committee on funding lapse, security gaps
Leadership from several Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies will be testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning about the impact the partial government shutdown is having on their agencies.
The House Homeland Security Committee has a hearing titled, "Funding Lapse and Security Gaps: Assessing the Harmful Impacts of the DHS Shutdown on Americans," set to begin at 10 a.m. ET.
Witnesses will include acting Transportation Security Administration administrator, Deputy TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, as more than 450 TSA employees have quit since the shutdown began and TSA callout rates have passed 11% nationally this week.
Lawmakers are expected to discuss TSA lines, security risks to the homeland amid the Iran war and America 250 events as potential terror targets.
McNeill previously testified before Congress just before the shutdown, warning that if TSA went unpaid for a lengthy period again, travelers would pay the price with long lines at airports — which is exactly what has happened.
Other officials testifying before Congress on Wednesday morning will include individuals with the U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA and CISA.
The hearing comes as senators are working on a potential bipartisan deal that would fund all of DHS except for ICE's deportation wing, but House members have largely been left out in the cold during the talks.
Fox News' Melissa Summers contributed to this post.
Mullin vows to 'end the partisan fighting,' reopen DHS as he enters first full day at the helm
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin faces his first full day at the helm Wednesday after being sworn in Tuesday.
In part of a Tuesday post on X, Mullin noted that he is “committed to safeguarding the American people and protecting the homeland."
"I’ll fight for your family just as I’ll fight for mine,” he noted. "I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with the 260,000 outstanding DHS employees and their families to keep our nation safe."
“My first priority is to end the partisan fighting and reopen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a matter of national security,” he asserted on X.
Mullin thanked President Donald Trump for his trust, saying "it's an honor to serve."
Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report
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