The White House on Wednesday suggested it is unlikely Elon Musk’s offer to pay airport security workers during the partial government shutdown could be implemented.
Musk said Saturday he would be willing to pay Transportation Security Administration employees as paychecks for thousands have been halted due to the Department of Homeland Security’s partial shutdown. The White House told the Washington Examiner that it “greatly appreciates” Musk’s offer but said the best way to ensure federal workers are paid is to end the shutdown.
“We greatly appreciate Elon’s generous offer,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “This would pose great legal challenges due to his involvement with federal government contracts. The fastest way to ensure TSA employees — and all DHS employees — get paid is for Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
Musk holds billions in government contracts, including through SpaceX, which is working with NASA on space exploration. The SpaceX founder built a close relationship with President Donald Trump last year, leading the Department of Government Efficiency in a mission designed to target bureaucratic waste, fraud, and abuse at federal agencies. The two men had a falling out last summer but patched up their relationship in later months, with Trump saying in October that the episode marked “a stupid moment in his life.” The president said, “But I like Elon, and I suspect I’ll always like him.”
The latest development comes as airports around the country have experienced the full weight of the partial DHS shutdown. Thousands of TSA employees have called out sick as their pay has been withheld, prompting historic wait times at airport security checkpoints, with passengers often standing in lines for hours. Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeil told Congress on Wednesday that the agency is approaching nearly $1 billion in missed paychecks, that callout rates have hit 40% to 50% at some airports, and more than 480 employees have quit since the shutdown began.
“This level of disruption is unprecedented and unacceptable and significantly undermines the security of us, transportation systems,” McNeil warned. “Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off, lost their child care, defaulted on loans, damaged the credit line, and drained their retirement savings. Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public.”
REPUBLICAN SENATORS SEE HOPE FOR DHS FUNDING DEAL AFTER TRUMP MEETING
The partial shutdown has stretched into its sixth week. It was prompted when Democrats blocked efforts to fund DHS due to concerns about ICE, which operates under DHS. Democratic lawmakers are pressing for reforms to be made to ICE, or for the agency to be defunded, before DHS is fully opened again after several ICE-related shootings led to the deaths of multiple U.S. citizens.
Congress has been involved in active negotiations on the matter, but a Senate vote to advance a deal that would fund TSA failed again on Wednesday. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the deal in the 54-46 vote, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward.
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