The White House rejected Elon Musk’s offer to cover TSA pay during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, citing legal conflicts as thousands of agents continue working without salaries.
DHS has remained unfunded for more than a month, leaving airport screeners on duty without paychecks while staffing levels strain operations nationwide. Officials said the quickest path to restoring pay is congressional action to fund the department.
“We greatly appreciate Elon’s generous offer. This would pose great legal challenges due to his involvement with federal government contracts,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. She added that the fastest way to ensure TSA employees are paid is for Democrats to fund DHS.
Musk floated the idea over the weekend, offering to step in during the impasse. “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” he wrote on X.
This is incredibly generous.
TSA agents across the country are relying on food pantries and community donations just to get by.
I remain the lone Dem to vote with my Republican colleagues to fully fund DHS and get people paid.
It should never come to this point. https://t.co/MmUnAcdvIa
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 21, 2026
President Donald Trump welcomed the proposal. “I think it’s great, let him do that,” he told reporters, adding that he would “love it” if Musk covered the salaries.
Lawmakers from both parties praised the gesture. Rep. Mike Collins called Musk a “great American,” while Sen. John Fetterman described the offer as “incredibly generous,” noting that many TSA workers are relying on food pantries and community donations.
At a House hearing, DHS officials detailed the toll of the shutdown on airport staffing.
Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers that more than 480 screeners have quit since the lapse began and warned the agency could lose roughly $1 billion in missed paychecks by week’s end.
Ha Nguyen McNeill, the top official at the TSA, testifying to Congress on Wednesday about the dire air travel situation, said the TSA has already lost more than 480 transportation security officers during this shutdown, while callout rates have accelerated.
"This has led to the… pic.twitter.com/lpL7TtKc2H
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 25, 2026
High absentee rates are compounding the problem. McNeill said some airports are reporting callout levels above 40%, forcing the agency to consolidate security lanes and consider shutting down smaller facilities.
“We are being forced to consolidate lanes and may have to close smaller airports if we do not have enough officers,” she said. “It is a fluid, challenging and unpredictable situation.”
To shore up operations, the administration deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to major airports this week.
Those officers remain paid during the shutdown and have been assigned to support roles including crowd control, ID verification, and entry point monitoring after completing TSA training.
The White House said the added presence has helped ease wait times, though officials did not provide specific metrics.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the effort “is yielding results,” adding that wait times have dropped, “not as much as we’d like.”
Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis credited ICE personnel with stabilizing operations at strained airports.
“After receiving standard TSA training curriculum, ICE officers are guarding entrances and exits, assisting with logistics, doing crowd control, and verifying identification using TSA equipment and standard operating procedures,” she said.
Bis noted the national TSA callout rate stood at 11.14% on Tuesday, with New York’s JFK among the hardest hit at 36.8%.
Trump praised the deployment, calling the officers “Great American Patriots” in a post on Truth Social.
He said ICE agents were assisting travelers and helping maintain order at busy terminals.
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“I am so proud of our ICE Patriots! They were unfairly maligned by the Lunatic Democrats for years, and now, at the Airports, in addition to what they are supposed to be doing, they are helping people with bags, even picking up and cleaning areas,” he wrote.
He argued the criticism of ICE has backfired politically and suggested further steps could follow.
“They are rehabbing a fake image given to them by Radical Left Democrat politicians,” he wrote, adding that he may call up the National Guard to support airport operations.
Some local leaders pushed back on the federal response. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said “ICE doesn’t belong at our airports,” while promoting a city hotline offering guidance to migrants.
Union leaders representing TSA workers said the deployments do not address the core issue.
“Look, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what ICE is doing up there. They just need to pay the employees,” said Johnny Jones of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA Council 100.
“This is a straight-up distraction to the real story of TSA officers going to work without being paid,” he added, noting ICE officers continue to receive pay while TSA agents do not.
Republican lawmakers defended the administration’s approach and blamed Democrats for prolonging the shutdown.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said the added manpower helps keep the travel system functioning.
“Somebody’s got to step up and ensure that our air travel continues or you’re going to see even further damage to our economy,” Comer said, arguing Democrats are “moving the goalposts” on funding talks.
Democrats countered with a proposal to compensate affected workers once funding resumes.
Sen. Ruben Gallego introduced legislation that would grant DHS employees a 10% bonus after the shutdown ends, covering more than 61,000 TSA workers.
“For weeks on end, TSA agents have been showing up and keeping our families safe. And they’re doing it without a paycheck as Republicans play politics with their livelihoods,” Gallego said, adding that ICE personnel would not be eligible because their funding remains intact.
“For weeks on end, TSA agents have been showing up and keeping our families safe. And they’re doing it without a paycheck as Republicans play politics with their livelihoods,” Gallego noted.
