Airport delays: How Trump is complicating TSA funding

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Welcome to The Logoff: The DHS shutdown is inflicting chaos at airports, however Donald Trump has his personal set of priorities.

What’s occurring? Lawmakers are negotiating this week over a potential measure to fund a lot of the Division of Homeland Safety — however not ICE — earlier than a scheduled Easter recess beginning on Saturday. The continued DHS shutdown has meant that TSA employees are usually not getting paid, and a few are both quitting or calling out sick, leading to more and more lengthy safety traces at airports.

These talks are going through their very own difficulties — Sen. Angus King (I-ME) referred to as a GOP DHS proposal in the present day “illusory” — however President Donald Trump is throwing further sand within the works along with his demand that lawmakers go a invoice referred to as the SAVE America Act together with DHS funding.

“I believe any deal they make, I’m just about not proud of it,” Trump mentioned on Tuesday about negotiations.

What would the SAVE America Act do? At its core, the invoice would introduce stringent new voter ID necessities, together with requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote and cracking down on mail-in voting.

Extra just lately, Trump has additionally tried to graft unrelated new necessities onto the invoice; on Sunday, he posted, “All Paper Ballots, No Males In Ladies’s Sports activities, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our treasured kids … lump every part collectively as one, and VOTE!!!”

Is that this going to occur? It isn't. Regardless of Trump’s calls for, the SAVE America Act has no clear path to passage within the Senate, whether or not or not it’s tagged onto a DHS funding measure (a model of the invoice already handed the Home final month).

Beneath stress from Trump, nevertheless, Republican senators have nonetheless been going through the motions of attempting to advance the invoice.

What does this imply for airport traces? For now, there’s no agreed-upon plan to reopen DHS, although one may materialize as senators stare down the prospect of lacking Easter recess. If that occurs, the subsequent query can be whether or not Trump lets his SAVE America fixation get in the way in which.

And with that, it’s time to log out…

Right here’s a outstanding story from Vox’s Unexplainable podcast about environmental activist Casey Harrell . After being identified with ALS in 2020, Harrell ultimately misplaced the power to talk. Now, microelectrodes implanted in his mind are serving to him speak as soon as extra.