Musk offers to pay TSA salaries as shutdown chaos enters day 36

Elon Musk offered to pay the salaries of TSA workers on Saturday as the Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 36th day and airport chaos spread across the United States.

The billionaire posted the offer on X at 2:47pm ET, hours after travellers reported wait times exceeding two hours at major airports including Atlanta, Houston, and Denver.

The offer cannot legally be accepted because federal agencies are prohibited from taking private funding for payroll under United States law. Only the federal government can issue salaries to its employees, regardless of the source of funds. Legal experts contacted by multiple outlets confirmed that no mechanism exists for the government to accept private money for this purpose.

Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, called the offer "incredibly generous" in a post on X without addressing whether it could actually be implemented. Critics pointed out that Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency advisory body, could advocate for ending the shutdown rather than offering to pay workers himself.

TSA workers received $0 paychecks last week

TSA employees received their first $0 paycheck on March 13, more than six weeks after Congress failed to pass appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security on January 30. The department remains unfunded as Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain deadlocked over border security provisions.

The Transportation Security Administration employs approximately 50,000 screeners nationwide with starting salaries around $40,000 annually. Musk's offer to cover all TSA wages would cost roughly $23 million per day, or approximately $700 million per month, a fraction of his estimated net worth.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that conditions will deteriorate significantly when workers miss their next scheduled payment, which is expected on March 27.

As we get into next week and they're about to miss another payment, this is going to look like child's play.

— Sean Duffy, US Transportation Secretary

Airport chaos worsens nationwide

Absence rates among TSA agents have climbed throughout the week as financial pressure mounts on workers who must continue reporting to work without pay. National callout rates reached approximately 10 percent, with some airports reporting far higher numbers.

Houston William P. Hobby airport recorded 40.8 percent of TSA agents absent this week, the highest rate reported at any major airport. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest airport in the United States, reported more than a third of staff not showing up and security wait times exceeding two hours throughout the weekend.

Houston George Bush Intercontinental had security wait times exceeding two hours on Sunday morning. Denver International Airport reported wait times approaching 90 minutes at peak hours, while Los Angeles International Airport advised passengers to arrive three hours before domestic flights.

Airline industry groups have warned that the chaos is causing passengers to cancel bookings and avoid air travel altogether, with some estimates suggesting a 15 percent drop in weekend bookings compared to the same period last year.

Political standoff shows no signs of resolution

Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to pay TSA workers separately from the broader DHS funding fight on Thursday. The motion to proceed failed along party lines, with Republicans arguing that any funding bill must include the border security provisions demanded by the White House.

President Trump threatened on Friday to replace TSA agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if callouts continue, though he did not explain how ICE personnel would be trained for airport security screening or whether such a move would be legal. The suggestion drew criticism from transportation security experts who noted that TSA screening requires specialised training that ICE agents do not possess.

Congress returns from recess on Monday with no vote on DHS funding currently scheduled. House Speaker Mike Johnson said over the weekend that he expects a vote by the end of the week, though he did not specify what concessions, if any, Republicans would make on border provisions.

The current shutdown is the longest affecting DHS since the 35-day partial government shutdown in 2018-2019, which also centered on border security funding. That shutdown ended after TSA absence rates spiked and air traffic controllers called in sick in large numbers at major airports.