HEBRON, Ky. — As security wait times created long lines at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Friday morning, there is now hope that TSA agents who have been without pay for weeks amid a partial government shutdown will finally be paid.
The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he would sign an order to immediately pay the TSA agents, saying he wanted to quickly stop the "Chaos at the Airports."
The announcement comes on the heels of the head of the TSA warning that passengers are experiencing the highest wait times ever. Houston has consistently been dealing with four-hour wait times.
Watch below to see how long the lines at CVG were Friday morning:
At CVG, Fridays are often extremely busy travel days. This morning, wait times for general boarding ranged from 12 to 22 minutes, while the line wrapped past ticketing counters.
CVG data shows Sundays, Mondays, and Saturdays are the busiest departure days during spring break season, which ends April 12.
The busiest time for departures at CVG is between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Outgoing morning flights are usually not delayed because CVG is known as a sleeper airport, where planes arrive the night before.
Senators worked through the night on the deal that would fund much of the rest of DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and TSA, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Customs was funded, but Border Protection was not.
The package puts no new limits on immigration enforcement, which has remained largely uninterrupted by the shutdown. The GOP’s big tax cuts bill that Trump signed into law last year funneled billions in extra funds to DHS, including $75 billion for ICE operations, ensuring the immigration officers are still being paid despite the lapse.
Next steps in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a slim majority, are uncertain. Passage will almost certainly require bipartisan support, as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt.
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