As chaos continues at airports across the nation amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, multiple insiders revealed that President Donald Trump had been presented with a plan to fully fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and pay airport employees — but rejected it out of hand, Punchbowl News reported Monday.
The partial government shutdown began last month after Democratic lawmakers refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without major reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the immigration enforcement agency under DHS that has carried out violent operations across the nation in recent months.
According to Punchbowl News, however, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) presented Trump with a proposal on Sunday that would have provided funding for all agencies under DHS, including TSA, other than ICE.
“But Trump said no, according to multiple sources,” Punchbowl News reported. “The president wants Republicans to stay in D.C. and keep fighting with Democrats over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, the GOP’s voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill.”
In public, Trump has explicitly blamed Democratic lawmakers for the long lines and chaos seen at airports nationwide as TSA workers continue to work unpaid, writing on social media last week that Democrats were “fully to blame.” Trump announced over the weekend that he would be deploying ICE agents to airports nationwide to help with staffing shortages.
The revelation that Trump rejected a plan to fund TSA, however, led to several critics issuing the president sharp rebukes.
“Confirmed what I suspected in a post last night,” wrote Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief for the progressive media company MeidasTouch, in a social media post Monday on X. “Thune reached a deal with Dems to fund DHS except for ICE and Trump rejected it. DONALD TRUMP is to blame for airport chaos – not Democrats.”
Reed Galen, a prominent GOP strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, urged lawmakers to call Trump’s bluff.
“Send him the bill. Make him veto it,” Galen wrote Monday in a social media post on X.
And Emre Yurttas, a pro-Democratic Party political commentator, wrote to their more than 9,000 followers on X that the revelation would only worsen the GOP’s election prospects in the coming midterms.
“So Trump wants to hold air travel hostage until Dems agree to pass his ridiculous election bill!” Yurttas wrote. “That is not how you govern! He really wants the GOP to lose the elections!”
Confirmed what I suspected in a post last night. Thune reached a deal with Dems to fund DHS except for ICE and Trump rejected it. DONALD TRUMP is to blame for airport chaos – not Democrats. https://t.co/lwWsgC28ph pic.twitter.com/nPpYCEbBgu — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 23, 2026
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