Donald Trump said he will take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers as a deal stalled in Congress to address staff shortages – key US politics stories from 26 March 2026
Donald Trump said on Thursday he will take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers as a deal stalled in Congress to address staff shortages that have snarled travel around the country.
The US president said he was instructing the Homeland Security Department “to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports. It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”
Nearly 500 airport security officers have quit since the start of a partial government shutdown in February, the Homeland Security Department said, as a congressional dispute over the department’s funding forces Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay.
The US president did not state where the funding to pay the agents would come from, as he tries to remedy nationwide staffing shortages and long lines at airports. Passengers have reported missing flights as they’ve waited for hours in queues in what the acting TSA head has described as the “highest wait times in TSA history”.
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The Senate again failed to advance a bill to fund part of the Department of Homeland Security, which has now been shut down for almost six weeks.
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Donald Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz by 10 days to 6 April after saying talks are “going very well”. He also continued to declare victory in the war, saying: “In a certain sense, we have already won.”
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Donald Trump has dismissed British warships as “toys” in his latest jibe at Nato countries for their lack of involvement in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
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Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on US paper currency, the treasury department announced Thursday.
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Amid an aggressive war in Iran, heightening pressure on Cuba, immigration enforcement operations throughout the country and a partial government shutdown, the lead Republican in the House has given Trump a newly concocted award.
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A group of 18 Venezuelan men whom the US expelled from a notorious Salvadorian mega-prison are demanding Salvadorian authorities be held accountable for violation of human rights.
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Lawyers for ICE provided false information to justify arresting and detaining thousands of people who had attended immigration courts, according to newly filed court documents.
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The deposed Venezuelan president appeared in a Manhattan federal court for his “narco-terrorism” case after his capture by US military forces earlier this year. The hearing opened with the defense and prosecution arguing over whether Maduro should be allowed to use Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense.
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Pete Hegseth prayed during a religious service at the Pentagon that there be “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”.
The US can continue to detain immigrants without bond, an appeals court ruled, handing a victory to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Bill Maher will win the prestigious Mark Twain prize for American humor less than a week after the White House forcefully denied that the comedian, who has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Donald Trump, would win it.
Idaho lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it a crime for transgender people to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity – even inside privately owned businesses.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 25 March 2026.