NBC on a deal to fund DHS: “…Trump rejected it — as he made clear in a Truth Social post Sunday night.”
NBC News reported that, even after a growing chorus of Republicans have joined Democrats, Donald Trump rejected a proposal to fund the TSA and other key DHS agencies, an offer that Democrats have been putting forward for weeks.
For weeks, Senate Democrats have proposed funding TSA and other agencies separately while negotiations over reforms to ICE continued. Republicans have blocked these proposals 10 times.
“Senate Democrats have called for funding TSA for weeks, and Republicans have blocked it every step of the way because they are taking orders from Donald Trump,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey. “We could pay TSA agents and end the chaos at airports across the country if Republicans like Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, and Derek Dooley told their Party to quit standing in the way and get it done.”
Read for yourself:
NBC News: Trump rejects off-ramp to fund DHS as airport delays worsen
By Sahil Kapur, Ryan Nobles and Julie Tsirkin | March 23, 2026
KEY EXCERPTS:
- On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., discussed an off-ramp with President Donald Trump to reopen TSA and end the long lines and delays at airports.
- White House aides initially conveyed the idea to Trump and, after that briefing, Thune spoke to the president, the two sources said. Thune discussed the idea with Republicans on Capitol Hill, one of the sources said. The second source said it’s seen by numerous Republicans as a viable path to break the logjam.
- Republicans believe that the off-ramp Trump and Thune discussed would win support from Democrats, who have offered to fund non-controversial parts of DHS on the Senate floor while the two parties continue to negotiate on immigration.
- But Trump rejected it — as he made clear in a Truth Social post Sunday night […]
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said that Democrats will again seek unanimous consent to fund just the TSA on the Senate floor Monday, for the eighth time.
- Republicans have so far rejected those stand-alone bills […]
- “We can be out of this shutdown by the end of the week,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Sunday.