TSA workers set to miss first paycheck of shutdown as Senate bickers over DHS funding

A debate over immigration and ending the Department of Homeland Security shutdown spilled over onto the Senate floor late Wednesday, as Transportation Security Administration agents are among the DHS employees who will miss their first full paychecks this week. Airports have recently buckled under the funding gap, with travelers suffering through long lines at security checkpoints as agents call out of work rather than toil without pay. The rhetorical battle on the Senate floor that resulted in no changes came weeks into a shutdown at DHS that began Feb. 14. Democrats are demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement as a condition for funding the agency, after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Republicans — backed by President Donald Trump — are not interested in policy changes as a condition of funding the agency. Read more CNBC politics coverage White House: ‘The U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time’ Iran war: Israel’s president Herzog calls ‘cost’ for business the price for Middle East peace ‘Forever war’: Democrats rebut Trump’s assertion that Iran war nearing end Sen. Patty Murray , D-Wash., proposed funding only the TSA, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, while lawmakers continue to debate funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, the sub-agencies that deal with immigration enforcement. "As for the rest of DHS that does important work to keep Americans safe like FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA, Democrats are here, we are trying to fund those agencies — while ICE and Border Patrol negotiations continue," Murray, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. Sen. Katie Britt , R-Ala., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Homeland Security subpanel, blocked Murray's measure. Britt then offered a proposal to fund DHS for two weeks, which Murray subsequently bloc...