WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to make changes to a Senate-passed bill that would end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, a move that will further delay funding and prolong the stalemate that began in mid-February. 

The holdup could again interrupt paychecks for workers at the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of which are part of DHS. Huge backups in airline security lines resulted in March when TSA officers went without pay for weeks until the administration scrambled to reprogram funds.

Johnson, R-La., has chosen not to negotiate potential tweaks in the funding bill with Senate Democrats, who will be needed to advance it if the House makes alterations.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference the bill that’s stalled in the House doesn’t “need tweaks.” 

“They’re just stuck. So they come up with, ‘We need some technical changes,’” he said. “Hold up national security for technical changes? It’s absurd. They can pass the bill right now.” 

Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said during a brief interview she was “flabbergasted” by Johnson’s comments.

She added during the press conference she has “no idea what technical changes they’re looking at.”

House hasn’t voted on DHS funding

The Senate unanimously passed a bill to fund the vast majority of the Department of Homeland Security in late March and again in early April. Johnson hasn’t put it to the House floor for a vote, blocking it from becoming law. 

The legislation doesn’t include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol, a compromise negotiated after Republicans and Democrats were unable to broker agreement on guardrails for immigration enforcement operations. 

Republicans plan to provide upwards of $70 billion in additional spending for ICE and Border Patrol in a party-line budget reconciliation bill they hope to pass in the coming weeks. 

Johnson said last week he believes the “sequencing is important” on when each of the two bills becomes law. But time is running out for the tens of thousands of federal workers, who are about to miss out on their paychecks once again. 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement the executive order President Donald Trump signed earlier this month to pay all DHS employees despite the funding lapse can only stretch so far. 

“That money is dried up if I continue down this path the first week of May,” Mullin said. “My pay roll through DHS is just over 1.6 billion dollars every 2 weeks so the money is going extremely fast and once that happens there is no emergency funds after that.”

‘We’ve got to get these agencies funded’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he’s working with House GOP leaders to “massage” the DHS funding bill in hopes it will become law sometime soon. 

“I’m very sympathetic,” he said. “We talked last night and he’s got to manage his challenges there. We have to manage our challenges here. But one way or the other, we’ve got to get these agencies funded.”

The disconnect between House Republicans and their Senate GOP counterparts on when to fund DHS is just one of several challenges party leaders are attempting to address this week. 

“We’re trying as best we can to coordinate strategy with the House. But, you know, it’s a unique situation. We’ve got very narrow margins and people with real strong opinions,” Thune said. “So it’s going to take, obviously, I think, the heavy involvement of the White House to bust some of these things loose. But we’re trying as best we can to ensure that we can get all of these issues across the finish line and ultimately on the president’s desk.”

Republican leaders will need the support of their own members as well as at least some Democrats in order to get major legislation, including the DHS funding bill, to Trump. 

But as of midday Tuesday, it didn’t appear they’d looped in key negotiators on possible changes to the Senate-passed spending bill. 

Recess next week

Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt, chairwoman of the subcommittee in charge of funding DHS, said she didn’t know what changes House GOP leaders wanted to make. 

“I am not aware. I just know that we need to find a pathway forward,” she said. “And nobody should be leaving here, or certainly flying off to (congressional delegation trips), until we do.” 

Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to leave on Thursday for a week-long break. 

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, ranking member on the DHS funding panel, said House Republicans hadn’t reached out to him or his staff. 

“I don’t know why he’s making this more complicated than it needs to be,” he said. “Our bill, which passed the Senate 100 to zero, would pass the House easily.”

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.

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