President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure all DHS employees continue to receive pay during a government shutdown, according to NBC News. The directive is aimed at preventing missed paychecks for personnel who are required to work even when appropriations lapse.
- Action: Trump signed a memorandum instructing DHS to pay all DHS employees during a shutdown, NBC News reported.
- Who it covers: The memo applies to DHS employees broadly, including personnel typically designated excepted (required to work) during a shutdown, NBC reported.
- Related step: NBC reported Trump signed a similar memo last week focused on Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers.
- Purpose (per NBC): The move is intended to prevent DHS employees from missing paychecks during a funding lapse.
- Agency impact: DHS includes major components such as TSA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Coast Guard, and FEMA.
Shutdowns occur when Congress and the president do not enact annual appropriations or a stopgap funding measure. During past shutdowns, many federal employees were furloughed, while “excepted” employees—often in national security, law enforcement, and public safety roles—were required to keep working. Even when back pay is later provided, the immediate problem for households is the cash-flow hit from delayed paychecks.
NBC framed the DHS memo as an attempt to avoid a repeat of those disruptions for a department with a large frontline workforce. DHS has a significant share of employees who must continue operations during a lapse, including screening passengers, staffing borders and ports of entry, carrying out maritime safety missions, and responding to disasters.
For federal employees and service members who interact with DHS services, the practical effect—if implemented as described by NBC—would be to reduce the likelihood that DHS operations are strained by employee financial hardship during a shutdown. For DHS employees themselves, the key question will be how DHS executes the directive (for example, whether pay is advanced through available authorities or other mechanisms) and what guidance is issued to components and payroll providers.
Employees tracking potential impacts to pay timing during a lapse can also monitor general shutdown pay rules and updates through federal workforce resources, including FedBrief’s shutdown policy explainers: https://fedbrief.org/
Source: NBC News (Politics), “Trump signs memo directing DHS to pay all employees during shutdown” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-signs-memo-directing-dhs-pay-all-employees-shutdown-rcna266657