Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem handed out $10,000 bonus checks to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who exhibited “exemplary service” while working without pay during the government shutdown on Thursday.
KHOU11 captured the moment Noem stopped speaking to reporters in front of her at a press conference at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and turned to present about a dozen TSA agents with the checks:
The secretary shook each of the recipients’ hands as she passed out envelopes containing their $10,000 bonuses, which a Trump administration official said would be going to “several thousand” other agents who received high performance marks from their supervisors, MSNBC reported.
The press conference was held as the record-breaking 43-day government shutdown ended, marking the beginning of TSA agents and other government employees being paid again.
President Donald Trump recommended a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers who worked during the shutdown as well, Breitbart News reported.
When asked by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham about where that money would come from, Trump answered, “I don’t know. I’ll get it from some place.”
“I always get the money from some place, regardless. It doesn’t matter. We did a lot of — I do a lot of bonuses for people, because it’s really something that, it’s like the American way, when you think about it,” the president said.
The checks given to TSA agents on Thursday were from carry over funds from fiscal year 2025, an internal memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by MSNBC stated.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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