Trump, TSA union, some lawmakers urge Congress to return to Washington to end DHS shutdown

Congress is under pressure to cut its two-week recess short, return to Washington and reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

On Monday, the DHS shutdown entered its 44th day, surpassing the record set during last fall’s 43-day, government-wide shutdown.

President Trump has said he would host an Easter dinner for lawmakers at the White House if Republicans come back to fight Democrats on the issue, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

The union that represents Transportation Security Administration workers is also demanding Congress return, even as some of its members started receiving back pay on Monday following Mr. Trump’s executive order calling for DHS to find funding to pay TSA agents.

American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100 President Hydrick Thomas said the union members are grateful to receive some back pay, but that alone does not fix the problems workers have experienced after six weeks of the shutdown.

Union leaders are concerned with the updated furlough guidance TSA issued Sunday removing agents’ ability to request to be placed into furlough status when unable to make it to work.

“Many of our members have seen bills pile up, interest and late fees add up, cars repossessed, and families thrown into disarray because Congress has failed to do their jobs,” he said. “Over 500 of our colleagues had to quit, and those who couldn’t make it to work have disciplinary actions looming over their heads.”

Mr. Thomas said it was disrespectful for lawmakers to leave Washington while tens of thousands of other DHS employees are still going without pay.

“To say we are utterly disgusted and disappointed with our elected officials is an understatement,” he said. “Congress must come back to Washington, fix this crisis, and stop putting politics over people and vacation over values.”

Lawmakers are also facing internal pressure to come back into session after they failed to end the shutdown before the recess.

The Senate passed a partial DHS funding bill that provided money for most agencies, except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and much of Customs and Border Patrol.

The House objected to excluding those immigration enforcement functions and passed an eight-week stopgap late Friday to fund all of DHS.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said his Republican colleagues in the Senate would try to pass the stopgap measure by unanimous consent during a pro forma session on Monday.

That did not happen. A Senate GOP source said unanimous consent is required for a senator to even speak during a pro forma session and that Democrats would have objected before Republicans could offer a motion to pass the DHS stopgap.

Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, was in the chamber for the pro forma session prepared to object if needed, saying he came back to Washington at the request of Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer to prevent Republicans from trying to go back on the partial DHS funding deal.

“There’s a rumor running around that Republicans in this morning’s brief session may try to jam through the SAVE Act, which disenfranchises millions of Americans, or their solution to funding the Department of Homeland Security, which would fund ICE and border patrol without real reforms,” Mr. Coons said in a video posted to social media Monday morning. “So I’m here as the Democrat to object if that’s what happens.”

While no Republican senator showed up, some complained on social media about being on recess while DHS is shut down. Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, called it “insane” and “inhumane.”

“This is the Senate’s *second* recess since the DHS shutdown began,” he posted. “The Senate shouldn’t have taken the last one (right after the impasse began) either, but it certainly shouldn’t take this one — a two-week recess 40 days into the crisis.”

Mr. Lee or any other senator could have objected to the Senate adjourning for the recess, but no one did. Now, Mr. Lee is urging Mr. Trump to use the power afforded to him under Article II of the Constitution to convene Congress “on extraordinary occasions.”

The president, meanwhile, has been repeating his call for Senate Republicans to scrap the filibuster to fund DHS and to pass the SAVE America Act, the GOP election bill to require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.

Some Republicans, such as Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, have backed that suggestion.

Mr. Trump said Senate Majority Leader John Thune told him he does not have the votes to eliminate the 60-vote requirement for ending a filibuster, as the South Dakota Republican has said publicly on repeat. But the president is not content with accepting that answer.

“That’s part of being a leader, you have to get the votes,” Mr. Trump told reporters Sunday on Air Force One.

He accused the Senate of “playing it too soft” in dealing with Democrats, who he called “sick” and said are “like terrorists.”

House Republicans agree their Senate counterparts need to do more, with dozens of them taking to social media on Monday calling on the Senate to come back into session to take up their stopgap bill.

“It’s insane that Senate Republicans didn’t even introduce our bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security. They didn’t even try,” said Rep. Randy Fine, Florida Republican, of the Monday pro forma session. “End the vacations and junkets and get your asses back to D.C. Now.”

Rep. Kevin Kiley, California independent, said the House also should reconvene until the impasse is resolved.

“At a time when our national security and essential services are at stake, lawmakers should be doing everything possible to reach a solution,” he said. “The two chambers and the two parties must stop blaming one another and instead focus on finding common ground.”