Elon Musk offers to pay TSA salaries amid budget battle, airport lineups

Air travellers endure long lines and two-hour wait times at the TSA security check point at Terminal E at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday, March 20, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

WASHINGTON - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, said on Saturday he would cover the paychecks of U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers during their second unpaid work stoppage in six months amid a protracted federal funding lapse.

The budget impasse over funding for the TSA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is in its fifth week. Screeners and other TSA personnel are days away from missing a second full paycheck, but are being pressured to show up as screening times at some airports stretch on for hours.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X.

DHS, TSA and representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Airlines and travel groups say absences among the TSA’s roughly 50,000 airport security officers could increase again this weekend.

TSA staffers earn ​an average of US$61,000 annually, according to federal data. Airports are running food drives and accepting ​donations for security screeners amid the partial U.S. government shutdown.

DHS funding timelines remain uncertain. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Friday that bipartisan negotiators have narrowed the remaining disputes over DHS funding, but a deal has not been finalized. Democrats in Congress in February agreed to fund most of the government in exchange for withholding funds from DHS following the killings of ​two U.S. citizens in Minnesota by immigration ​authorities.

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump said a wealthy donor provided $130 million to help cover possible military pay shortfalls caused by that government shutdown, which lasted 43 days and was the longest in U.S. history.

Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Sergio Non, Rod Nickel