WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump signed a memo directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay Transportation Security Administration workers during the ongoing shutdown. TSA employees are expected to receive most of their back pay starting Monday, according to a TSA email shared by an agency officer.

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown began February 14. Transportation Security Administration agents have missed paychecks during the shutdown, and people have faced hourslong wait times at airports, with security lines extending out the doors in some places.

"Air travel in America was at a breaking point, and the president took decisive action in the face of a stalled Congress," said a senior White House official. The memo was signed after the House rebelled against a Senate-passed compromise that would have funded all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The money to pay TSA workers will come from the One Big Beautiful Bill, the tax-cut and spending legislation Trump signed into law in July, a senior administration official said. TSA workers relied on assistance from family members, friends and food banks to get by during the shutdown.

Travelers at Austin airport gave gift cards to TSA agents during the shutdown. "These are the people who are suffering enough. We don't want another 9/11. I'd like these people to get funded," said Lizabeth Garza-García, a 45-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas, who was waiting in line at San Diego International Airport.

"I blame them all. It's their job to work this out and they're not doing it," said David Simmons, 63, of Florida. "I blame the Democrats more if I had to pick a side. Withholding TSA money is not on target for the issue that they're protesting."