DHS announces $10K shutdown bonuses for some TSA officers
DHS announced bonuses for TSA officers who demonstrated “exemplary service” through the 43-day shutdown.
Justin Doubleday
November 13, 2025 6:27 pm
2 min read
The Department of Homeland Security is giving $10,000 bonuses to transportation security officers who demonstrated “exemplary service” through the government shutdown.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the bonuses during a press conference in Houston, Texas, today. She highlighted the “tens of thousands of individuals who stepped up and continued to serve” at the Transportation Security Administration despite receiving no pay through the 43-day shutdown.
Asked whether she was referring to those who did not call out sick or stay home, Noem said, “that’s not necessarily the parameters.”
“We’re going to look at every individual that did exceptional service during this period of time when there were so many hardships,” Noem said.
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DHS did not immediately respond to questions about who qualifies for the bonuses. TSA employs approximately 50,000 transportation security officers, meaning a bonus for every officer would cost roughly $500 million.
In a press release, DHS said it’s paying for the bonuses using carryover funds from fiscal 2025.
Disruptions to air travel began to grow in the final weeks of the shutdown. Security lines began to grow longer as some TSA officers called out. Meanwhile, flight delays and cancellations grew as air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration began calling out of work amid multiple missed paychecks.
Noem’s announcement comes after a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump earlier this week, in which he raged at air traffic controllers who took time off during the shutdown. Trump also announced $10,000 bonuses for controllers who “didn’t take any time off for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax.’”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he agreed with Trump’s idea for a $10,000 bonus for air traffic controllers who had no missed days of work. But Duffy also offered a reprieve for some employees who missed days during the shutdown.
“We have some controllers who were put in a very difficult position,” Duffy told a Wisconsin TV station on Tuesday. “They’re young. They don’t make a lot of money when they first start out. They can make some good money later in their careers, but when they start out, they’re not making a lot. They may be the sole source of income, and they were confronted with a real problem.
However, Duffy also vowed to target “continual bad actors” during the shutdown.
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“If they started to take time off because the shutdown was an excuse for them, we’ll take a look at those people, and we’ll work with the union and see what an appropriate response from the FAA will be,” he said.
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