WASHINGTON — The two chambers of Congress, both controlled by Republicans, were at odds Friday over how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, prolonging the shutdown that began in mid-February. 

The Senate voted before dawn to approve a funding bill that would have reopened every agency within the department impacted by the funding lapse. But that legislation didn’t include additional money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol.

House GOP leaders, infuriated by their colleagues’ decision to leave out that money, didn’t put it on the floor for a vote. They chose instead to take up an eight-week stopgap spending bill for the department, which has little chance of moving through the Senate.

The House bill passed on a 213-203 mostly party-line vote. Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, North Carolina Rep. Donald Davis and Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, all Democrats, voted with all Republicans present. The Senate bill passed by voice vote, with Democratic support. Both chambers are now out of session for a two-week spring break. 

The development reduces hope for the tens of thousands of federal workers within DHS who have gone without a full paycheck since the stalemate began when Senate Democrats demanded new constraints on immigration enforcement after federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection have been largely exempt from the impacts of a shutdown since Republicans approved tens of billions for their operations in their “big, beautiful” law. But federal workers throughout other DHS agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration, haven’t been in the same situation. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced in the afternoon the House would not even consider the Senate-passed funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, and would instead vote on a temporary measure that would run through May 22.

“We’re going to send that over to the Senate and we hope that they’ll accept that,” Johnson said.

President Donald Trump hasn’t weighed in publicly on whether he would sign either of the bills, if they ever reach his desk, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment. But Johnson said Trump backs House Republicans over the Senate. 

“I spoke to the president a few moments ago,” he said. “He understands exactly what we’re doing and why, and he supports it.”

Trump signed an order Friday that would provide pay for TSA workers, which a senior administration official said would come from Republicans’ signature tax and spending bill. A DHS spokesperson, in an email, said that TSA workers should see paychecks as early as Monday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a social media post that any stopgap bill to fund DHS “that locks in the status quo is dead on arrival in the Senate, and Republicans know it.”

“We’ve been clear from day one: Democrats will fund critical Homeland Security functions—but we will not give a blank check to Trump’s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms,” Schumer wrote. 

Overnight Senate vote

The Senate approved a modified DHS spending bill by voice vote around 2:30 a.m. Eastern after a week of mounting pressure on lawmakers to end the stalemate that has led to hourslong wait times in airport security lines.

The Senate-passed DHS bill didn’t include funding for ICE or Border Patrol. GOP lawmakers signaled ahead of the vote they’ll try to pass another boost in funding for immigration enforcement and deportation in a second party-line package later this year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said during brief floor debate that funding DHS through a “piecemeal” approach wouldn’t have happened if Democrats handled negotiations differently.  

“They wanted reforms to Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and Republicans offered to give that to them,” he said. “The White House made offer after offer putting forward a robust list of additional reforms. And Democrats just kept moving the goal posts, and today they just walked away.”

Democrats, he said, “might think twice before” before they tried to use this as a campaign issue during November’s midterm elections, when voters throughout the country will decide whether Republicans keep both chambers of Congress.

“We could be standing here right now passing a funding bill with a list of reforms, if Democrats had made the smallest effort to actually reach an agreement, but they didn’t, because it’s now clear to everyone, Democrats didn’t actually want a solution,” he said. “They wanted an issue, politics over policy, self-interest over reform, pandering to their base over actually solving a problem.” 

Schumer said the bill to fund most of DHS “could have been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn’t stood in the way.” 

“Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms,” he said. 

More money for immigration deportations pledged

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said he and other Republican lawmakers would seek to bolster funding for immigration and deportations through budget reconciliation, the complex process the party used last year to approve its “big, beautiful” law.

That, he said, would allow Republicans to move funding through the Senate with just a simple majority vote, skipping the procedural steps that would otherwise require 60 senators to end debate on a bill. 

“To my Democrat colleagues, this bill is the moderate option. What’s coming next is going to supercharge deportations,” he said. “To my Republican colleagues, let this be a rallying cry every time the Democrats obstruct the safety of American families, the wall gets 10 feet higher and ICE gets another $100 billion.”

New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim said Democrats have been clear for months they would “not support providing more funding for ICE without also including common sense reforms to rein in the abuses we have seen in Minnesota and elsewhere, particularly after two Americans were shot and killed.” 

“All we’ve been demanding here is what the American people are demanding — body-worn cameras; no masks; keeping ICE agents out of our hospitals, schools and churches; and ensuring ICE follows the same practices and procedures as local law enforcement,” he added. 

‘Republicans have relented’

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, wrote in a statement that earlier negotiations included “proposals to expand the use of body-worn cameras; limit civil immigration enforcement in sensitive areas such as schools and hospitals; increase oversight of detention facilities; and implement visible officer identification.”

“While Republicans worked in good faith to try to reach agreement, Democrats remained intransigent and unreasonable with their list of demands,” she wrote. 

Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote in a statement that since “Republicans have relented” lawmakers were “on track to fund the areas we agree on and get TSA agents paid, get our airports moving again, and fund important disaster relief and cybersecurity work.”

“But it is a shame that instead of working with Democrats to land the plane on several common-sense reforms to ICE and Border Patrol that the White House had already agreed to, Republicans walked away from constructive conversations and ultimately rejected some basic steps to reform these agencies,” she wrote. “I will keep fighting to secure real, meaningful steps to help rein in these rogue agencies—we just need Republicans to join us.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will sign an order allowing the Department of Homeland Security to pay airport security workers who have gone without a full paycheck since the shutdown began in mid-February. 

The order for Transportation Security Administration workers does not appear to include pay for other federal employees working for DHS, including those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secret Service. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection have largely been insulated from the DHS shutdown since Republicans approved tens of billions in additional funding for those two agencies in last year’s “big, beautiful” law. 

“It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it! I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports,” Trump wrote on social media. “I will not allow the Radical Left Democrats to hold our Country hostage any longer.”

Trump’s decision will give both chambers of Congress, which are controlled by Republicans, a bit of cover to leave for their two-week spring break without actually reaching bipartisan compromise to fund DHS. 

Democrats have held up the department’s funding bill in the Senate to demand new constraints on federal immigration actions after officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly after Trump’s announcement that his decision “takes the immediate pressure off” lawmakers to make a deal, but that it’s a “short-term solution.”

Thune said “we’ll see” when asked if negotiations over the DHS funding bill would continue. 

“I’ll have more to say about that here soon,” he said. “But we obviously are going to try and fund as much of the DHS budget as we possibly can.”

Thune hadn’t provided an update as of 10 p.m. Eastern as senators struggled to find a path forward. 

Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said earlier in the evening that talks over funding the department continued with Republicans. 

“There’s an active negotiation going on. I hope they don’t unilaterally decide to walk away. But that’s their decision,” he said. “They ultimately take orders from a higher power.”

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said around the same time “it’s just not true that we’re not in a negotiation.”

“It may be that one person or the other has lost patience and that would be too bad,” he said. “But we’re still talking.”

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Trump made the right decision to choose to pay TSA agents as the shutdown drags on. 

“I just got off the phone with the president,” he said. “The president is doing absolutely the right thing. He’s showing leadership.”

House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., released a statement saying the administration needs to explain to Congress what funding it plans to divert to pay TSA workers and why it didn’t take the step sooner. 

“If the White House believes they have the authority to pay these workers, then every day for the past 41 days, they have been making a conscious decision not to pay them,” she said. “As the lines got longer, as workers called out, as agents quit or got second jobs, they chose again and again not to pay these workers.”

A senior administration official said the administration plans to use money from Republicans’ signature tax and spending package that was enacted last summer. 

Union reaction

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that while the union is “grateful” that TSA employees will be paid, lawmakers need to find a deal to fully fund the entire department. 

“These workers and their families cannot wait,” he said. “All DHS workers must be paid immediately.

“Congress needs to continue working to pass a real, bipartisan appropriations deal that funds DHS, pays all DHS workers, and keeps these vital agencies running — even if that means canceling their upcoming vacation.”

Technology is a helpful option for school district transportation departments looking to improve efficiency and cut costs, a transportation coordinator shared during a recent webinar.

Bryan Mitchell, marketing director for Transit Technologies, reviewed current challenges related to on-time student transportation plagued by slashed budgets, driver shortages and increasing parent demands.

Rome City Schools in Georgia was facing a costly and inefficient payroll process, he said. With more than 100 transportation staff members relying on paper-based timesheets, including multi-colored paper for different shifts, Mitchell explained that the monthly task of preparing payroll was a logistical nightmare.

By using ByteCurve digital time clocks and payroll software, the district realized $30,000 in monthly labor cost savings totaling about $300,000 annually, even after wage increases. Jonathan Agenten, director of sales for ByteCurve, explained that the savings came from shaving a few minutes off each driver’s paid hours due to more accurate data collection. Christina Buffington, transportation coordinator for Rome City Schools, confirmed that no driver experienced a significant wage loss.

Buffington shared that the previous paper time sheet method would take up to a month to add up hours and verify before finalizing. She confirmed that the ByteCurve digital process has reduced the time it takes to complete the process and allows management to verify drivers’ route completion via GPS. Payroll errors were nearly eliminated and 10 hours were saved per week in driver communications and payroll reconciliation.

“It’s the work that drives the day – it’s the work that drives the pay,” quipped Agenten.

He reviewed the way ByteCurve streamlines and improves communication between the normally siloed transportation segments of routing, payroll and GPS tracking. The system provides a digital clock-in experience for drivers, an airport terminal-like dashboard emphasizing delayed or canceled routes that require staff attention, a real-time bus location view and the ability to automatically calculate complex pay scenarios based on district policies.

Mitchell and Agenten reviewed the rugged and reliable Vehicle Camera Systems and Driver-Facing Cameras offered by Vestige, a sister company to ByteCurve via parent company Transit Technologies. AI-Powered Safety Solutions include a Driver Monitoring System to detect drowsiness, distraction, smoking, and phone use as well as Advanced Driver Assistance System alerts for forward collision, lane departure and pedestrian detection.

Transit Technologies also offers FASTER maintenance software which it says was “purpose built to match how fleets operate, not how companies think they do,” and can save 10-15 hours per week with automated reports and real-time dashboards.

Also recently added to the Transit Technologies family of companies was field trip management software provider busHive.

Mitchell spoke to the company’s goal of offering an integrated tech stack to meet all of a school district’s transportation needs.

These technologies are beneficial as they discover savings and efficiencies in fuel and payroll, which are the two biggest expenses in transportation, noted STN Publisher Tony Corpin.

Agenten emphasized the “white glove” treatment offered by ByteCurve in initially setting up the systems to fulfill the needs of each individual district. From Rome City Schools, both Buffington and Director of Transportation Elander Graham praised the customer service experience.

Watch the webinar and visit bytecurve.com to learn more.

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Payroll Technology Saves Georgia School District Thousands of Dollars appeared first on School Transportation News.

Student transportation leaders are being asked to do more with less—manage driver shortages, control labor costs, ensure on-time arrivals, and maintain payroll accuracy across increasingly complex operations. Yet many districts still rely on disconnected systems for GPS, routing, dispatch, and payroll, leaving gaps in visibility when it matters most.

In this webinar, hear directly from Little Elm Independent School District (TX) about how they successfully transitioned from a contractor-based model to a fully in-house transportation operation—and why unifying dispatch and payroll into a single command-and-control system was non-negotiable.

Under the leadership of Transportation Director Jonquez Moore, Little Elm ISD adopted Bytecurve to gain real-time insight into driver availability, route performance, and labor costs.

Attendees will learn how management-by-exception dashboards help dispatch teams identify late or missing drivers before service is impacted, how tying clock-in times to route schedules improves payroll accuracy, and how district leaders use data to track on-time performance by route and campus.

The session will also explore measurable outcomes, including improved on-time arrivals, reduced payroll leakage, and increased confidence across dispatch and payroll teams.

Whether you’re managing an in-house fleet or evaluating how to modernize your transportation technology stack, this webinar will provide practical, peer-driven insights you can apply immediately.

Brought to you by Bytecurve

REGISTER BELOW:

Presenters:

Jonquez Moore
Transportation Leader
Little Elm Independent School District (TX)

Jonquez Moore is the transportation Leader at Little Elm ISD, where he oversaw the district’s transition from contractor-based service to a district-run operation. A former teacher and coach, Moore brings a unique operational perspective and is known for leveraging real-time data to improve dispatch efficiency, payroll accuracy, and on-time arrivals across a growing fleet.

Jonathan Agenten
Sales Director
Bytecurve

Jonathan Agenten manages strategy and customer engagement for Bytecurve, working closely with school districts nationwide to improve dispatch visibility, payroll accuracy, and operational performance. With deep experience in K-12 transportation technology, he helps districts modernize workflows and make data-driven decisions.

Bryan Mitchell
Marketing
Bytecurve

Bryan Mitchell focuses on helping transportation leaders understand how unified dispatch and payroll systems reduce labor inefficiencies and improve on-time performance.

The post (Free Webinar) Running Transportation Dispatch & Payroll as One System appeared first on School Transportation News.