January 30, 2026, temporary federal funding plans expired, effectuating a partial shutdown the following day. February 3, House Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to pass a financial compromise with the help of President Donald Trump. Approved by the Senate, the measure sought to temporarily separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two weeks while Congress and the White House discussed immigration enforcement tactics. The compromise package assented to fund the federal government except for DHS for the remainder of the fiscal year. Regardless, the shutdown does not function as a full shutdown like the record-breaking 43-day shutdown in late 2025 since not all 12 annual appropriation funding bills end at once. Only agencies under the DHS, such as the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the Secret Service (USSS) are affected.
“Democrats in the Senate want to exert some degree of control over ICE. What’s happening here is that they’re not authorizing funding to all DHS agencies, which is resulting in a partial government shutdown to some agencies within DHS. And that is affecting some agencies within that department,” Advanced Placement (AP) Comparative Government teacher Carolyn Galloway said.
Nonetheless, February 14, 2026, the federal government reached another deadlock after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree over funding. Democrats refused to pass funding for the DHS for the 2026 fiscal year, which already passed the House. Democrats stymied the fiscal bill that continues financing DHS, and in turn, ICE, without reform after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The lawmakers petitioned for over 10 changes, such as a stringent code of conduct, stricter warrant policies, mandatory body cameras and a ban on facial coverings for ICE agents. Republicans rejected Democratic demands as the reforms would limit their ability to deport undocumented immigrants.
The lack of federal funding triggered over 260,000 DHS employees to work without pay, with an estimated 60,000 TSA workers bearing the brunt of the unpaid overtime. With lines spanning through airports and into parking lots, wait times for TSA security lines skyrocket, causing numerous passengers to miss flights even when leaving their homes hours ahead of their departure. TSA employees, who only recently recovered from the financial strain of the 2025 shutdown, continue to miss their airport shifts to work elsewhere in favor of other paid work. The diminishing workforce only adds to the workload, inciting the remaining employees to call off work from stress, creating a cycle of short-staffing.
Over 366 TSA workers have resigned since February 14, with nearly 10% of employees — and 34% in Hartsfield-Jackson — calling out sick. Airports have requested that passengers donate items or food to support TSA workers who miss paychecks and fall behind on payments. Hartsfield-Jackson currently grants workers two free meal vouchers per shift and free parking. After employees worked through the busy travel week of spring break unpaid, CEOs of major airlines urged Congress in a letter to pass the Aviation Funding Solvency Act and the Aviation Funding Stability Act by March 15. The acts, introduced after the 2018-2019 shutdown, would support workers through the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund with a balance of over 2.6 billion dollars to ensure pay.
“My sister works for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. It’s a very complicated situation in terms of who, within each department, gets paid and who doesn’t. So, air traffic controllers, TSA, and some groups within FEMA have to continue working, even though they’re not getting paid. My sister is one of the groups that is not getting paid, but also isn’t working. So she hasn’t been able to go to her job in more than a month, which means that people aren’t getting help, and also it means that she’s not getting paid. Hopefully, she will get paid when they go back. She’s had three government shutdowns in the last year and a half,” Galloway said.
