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Senate Moves to Fund Most of DHS; Long Security Lines Remain; Lines at Baltimore Airport; Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) is Interviewed DHS Funding; Hearing over Fulton County Lawsuit; Long Lines in Houston. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Is delaying his deadline for striking Iran's energy sites again as he weighs different military options that all risk high casualties according to sources to CNN.

And a kangaroo on the lam. A diaper-wearing kangaroo -- that's where we went wrong this morning -- named Chesney is missing in Wisconsin. Maybe that's where John and Kate are, searching for that kangaroo.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Erica Hill. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the breakthrough that could bring an end to the chaos at America's airports and, importantly, finally bring paychecks to TSA officers who have been working without pay since the start of this shutdown. Of course, the Senate, in a rare overnight session, unanimously moving to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security. Most. So that doesn't include funding for ICE enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. This, of course, after a standoff of more than 40 days.

Republicans are expected to try to push that funding through for ICE at a later date. The bill itself, now making its way to the House, where the race is on to pass something before Congress leaves for its two week recess. That's set to happen today.

President Trump, on Thursday, had said he would order DHS to pay TSA officers. It's still not clear, though, when that might happen.

All of this, though, if it could be resolved, of course, could potentially shorten those massive lines we've been following at some airports around the country. At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the wait times there, more than four hours before 5:00 a.m. local time this morning.

We've got our team covering this from the airports to the nation's capital this morning. I want to begin there on Capitol Hill with CNN's Annie Grayer.

So, in terms of this bill now, the big question is what and when does something happen in the House? And it could be an uphill battle, Annie. ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely could be an uphill battle. We are waiting to see if House Republican leadership will schedule a vote on this Senate DHS deal today. We know that House Republican leaders and House Democratic leaders are having lots of conversations and meetings behind the scenes, trying to gauge where their members are at, because House Speaker Mike Johnson has a tough sell to his members to make. He has to convince conservatives to support this deal, which, as you mentioned, doesn't include any funding for ICE. And conservatives had wanted any funding for the Department of Homeland Security to also attach Trump's voter I.D. bill attached to it. Now, that is not something that ended up happening in the Senate. So, will Johnson be able to convince his Republicans to get on board, or is he going to have to rely on House Democrats?

Now, I talked to one moderate House Democrat this morning who was giving positive signs that this is a deal that he -- that they think that many members could get behind. But it is a larger question of will Democrats support this? Because Democrats and Republicans have been going back and forth for 41 days on these negotiations. And I think both sides are asking, what did they get out of this? Democrats are -- did not get any meaningful reforms to ICE, which they've been pushing for. Republicans didn't get more -- didn't get more money for ICE, which they have been pushing for. But Republicans have money that they'd already provided to ICE in a Republican only bill, and they want to pursue another Republican only bill where they could add more money to ICE.

So, Senate Majority Leader John Thune argues that the Democrats actually lost their ability to negotiate here because Republicans can move forward with more funding for ICE without them. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, though, is proud of how his Senate Democrats stuck together in this process. As we've seen in other funding battles, some moderate Senate Democrats have broken off from the rest of the party. That did not happen this time.

But all eyes are going to be on the House. This was a deal that the Senate ultimately passed, that many Democrats had been pushing for days. So, it would seem like Democrats would be quick to get on board. The question is going to be, will Republicans join in? And that is going to be the question that we're following today. Of course, as you mentioned, President Trump having also his emergency powers funding for TSA agents. The big question is, when will TSA agents get paid? When will those airport lines get shorter? That is what the question is today.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. And we are seeing -- I'm just looking over my shoulder. We're seeing some live pictures from the House floor as we continue to monitor that. Annie, I know you'll keep us up to speed.

We also want to check in on the airports. Ryan Young is at Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

You know, the folks that I know you've been talking to Ryan for a long, long time, they're coming up to you because they're so used to seeing you at the airport. They want this resolved. They are tired of the infighting. RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, guess what?

The airport is sprinkled a little bit of that ATL magic all over this. And at the point, we've seen the rush hour sort of drop off in the last half hour or so.

But before we start walking, I want to show you something. If you look right here, you can see some of those ICE agents who've taken up seats here, who are now checking in I.D.s. There are more of them today checking I.D.s then were checking I.D.s yesterday.

[09:05:03]

We are seeing the lines get a lot shorter here. That initial rush hour was going. Talk about people yelling things in our direction. We just had a guy say, hey, I'm so glad that Delta stopped the special privileges for Congress. They really want to see them sort of pay the price for all this and people standing in lines.

But this is the main check point. So, if you look right here, you can see the drop off. This morning, that TSA precheck line, outside the building again, that still remains very long. But the main checkpoint and the north checkpoint, we're seeing a lot shorter lines.

But take a listen to travelers this morning who were fired up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: So, how long have you been waiting in line this morning?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got here at 6:30.

YOUNG: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Flight is at 11:30. I think we'll be there.

YOUNG: What do you think about the idea that you got here like four hours before your flight? Did you ever think you'd see this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never. Never. And I've flown a lot. I'm on passport number five.

YOUNG: Do you ever think the line is going to be this long when you got here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, I'd already checked Instagram. Like, I already knew how long the lines were. Normally I'd get to the airport like 20 minutes before my flight. This time, three hours.

YOUNG: If you had a chance to talk to Congress and tell them, what would you say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's just get everything together. Let's work together. Honestly, like, let's work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP) YOUNG: Yes, you really felt the pain from people again. As people have been walking by, they've been voicing their frustration. They can't believe they have to arrive to the airport so early. We've been telling people also, if you arrive four hours before your flight, you can't check your bag in. That's something you should know.

Also, if you arrive to the airport, make sure you check all the lanes. No matter what airport you're at, because some of the lines are shorter throughout the day. Security still remains high here. But, Sara and Erica, there was something that happened last week that a lot of people have been bringing up to us. I want to play this sound bite from a woman that a lot of people believe that she really summed up what she wanted to see, not only at this airport but across the country.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been in this wheelchair. They going to tell me to go stand up in line. I have MS. How you going to expect me to stand up and push my own self in a wheelchair? Atlanta got to do better. I had to pay a stranger $100 to push me and get me through the TSA line. Do better. Trump, fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, that, "Trump, fix it" really went very far. People have been talking about that nonstop. As we flip around here, this is part of what we saw. We saw these agents arriving here, doing their patrols, walking into. A lot of the folks here are veteran ICE agents. And then also you have Atlanta P.D. here as well.

So, this still remains a good situation because the security lines have dropped. Of course, we'll continue to watch it.

Guys.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Ryan, appreciate it.

By the way, Ryan, that woman also struck a chord with my mother, who mentioned it to me. Specifically that woman that you had spoken to. So, she is certainly getting a lot of attention. She is being heard.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

HILL: Pete Muntean is at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

So, Pete, how are things looking there this morning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: That pledge by President Trump to sign an executive order to pay TSA agents and that Senate bill, really too little, too late for probably the thousands of people who are in line here at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. In fact, this line is so big you can't really believe it. You can't even photograph it. This is the security C checkpoint here at BWI. This is only the start. People who get to this point in line have been waiting about two hours.

But look over here. This is the line continued. This line actually goes down the frontage of the terminal here, under this observation area, into the food court, loops around, comes back out here. The beginning of the line is out here. It goes from inside to outside. This is the line outside at the airport. We can't even walk the line the entirety of it because it's so long.

I spoke to a federal agent here who's down from his office in the airport, volunteering to help keep things moving here. He tells me the line right now near BWI, between three hours and 10 minutes to three hours and 40 minutes. Totally incredible. The airport says today is their busiest day year to date in terms of passenger volume.

Jonathan Dean here at BWI tells me 31,000 passengers expected. Yesterday it was 30,000 passengers expected. And the airport is telling folks to get here at least three hours early to get through the checkpoint.

Just look at this one more time. I mean you really like have to see this to believe it. It is huge. And the other thing that's happening here, you have to consider the fact that Anne Arundel County Public Schools. We're in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Spring break officially begins on Monday. So, a lot of people are trying to leave town.

I spoke with Southwest Airlines. This airport is the busiest in the region when it comes to flights.

[09:10:02]

Southwest Airlines makes up about 70 percent of the market share. Airline says they're trying to do their best to get people rebooked on different flights if they can't make it through this line and to their gate. Some of the checkpoints here are closed. A is closed. B is partially open. C, the one that we're looking for the line for, that's the one that's the most open. That's the one that has the longest line. If you were coming to BWI, where there's about 30 percent call out rates here for TSA agents get here so, so early.

HILL: Wow. You point out the spring break. A lot of families we saw in line there behind you. We also saw some people smiling. So, doing their best to remain positive. Maybe making some friends with everybody else there in line for them for the wait of 3:10 to 3:40.

Pete, appreciate it. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw of Virginia. He sits on the Homeland Security Committee.

I first got to ask you, you have this bill pending. Your recess is coming up very quickly, at the end of the day. How will you vote if this bill funds most of DHS, but not ICE, which is just one of the demands the Democrats were making.

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): Yes, I've been consistent for weeks now that a path forward, if Republicans aren't willing to accept the reasonable reforms for ICE and CBP, a path forward is to fund all the other DHS agencies, get our TSA agents paid. So, based on what I know of the agreement and the legislation, I'll support it and I'll keep fighting to reform ICE and CBP, but I'm not going to vote to give them another dime until those reforms are in place.

SIDNER: I do want you to listen to one TSA worker who I talked to this week about how these frequent shutdowns, because this is not the first one, this has gone on for a very long time, more than 40 days, but how it's affecting her family.

Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TATIANA FINLAY, TSA UNION REP. AFGE LOCAL 556: At this point it has come to the point of like having to skip meals because I have to make sure that my kids are fed. And so, if it comes down to, I'll just feed them and I'll skip a meal. And, you know, we'll keep stretching that dollar, so be it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She literally is talking about skipping meals because this has gone on so long and they haven't been fully paid in 41 plus days. How do you explain to TSA workers, who keep having to go through this, who keep being the ones who pay the highest price for an inability to compromise in Congress?

WALKINSHAW: Two things that I would say, and it is hard to hear that TSA agent and what she has gone through. One, the deal that broke through in the Senate last night that Republicans finally agreed to, Democrats put on the table four weeks ago. So today Republicans are agreeing to what Democrats said should happen four weeks ago. All of those long lines, four weeks of TSA agents missing their paychecks, didn't need to happen. That's outrageous.

I also introduced legislation called the True Shutdown Fairness Act, which would pay all of our federal workers. And it's not just the TSA agents who have gone unpaid, but others in DHS as well, for the rest of this year. All of our federal workers have endured incredible abuse through not just the last two shutdowns, but the DOGE chainsaw that the Trump administration has taken to them, cuts to their budget, job losses, abuse from the highest levels. It is unacceptable. We should be honoring our TSA agents and all of our federal workers.

SIDNER: Yes, so many of them continue to show up to work without being paid. I certainly, whenever I go through the airport, thank them for being there. But that is certainly nothing compared to what they need, which is their paychecks.

Let me move on to Iran. We're reporting -- our reporter is getting information from their sources that there have been many different military options that have been discussed inside the Trump administration, but every single one of them are, at the very least, not ideal. And every single one that they have learned of, for the possibility of troops on the ground, would end in heavy, heavy casualties for the United States. What do you make of this? What needs to be done here?

WALKINSHAW: Well, President Trump is doing precisely what candidate Trump criticized previous presidents for doing, which is step by step by step, going further and further and further, ultimately getting us into a quagmire in the Middle East. And boots on the ground would be another big step toward that quagmire. It is unacceptable to me. It's unacceptable to, I think, all Democrats in Congress and even some Republicans.

It shouldn't happen. There's no reason for it to happen. We need a president focused on bringing down gas prices, which are $4 a gallon, or approaching it, not driving them up with this reckless war in the Middle East. We've already lost 13 American lives. That is 13 too many. We should bring our troops home and end this reckless, unauthorized war.

[09:15:04]

SIDNER: Congressman James Walkinshaw, thank you for being here. I hope the job gets done today to fund the TSA workers.

Erica.

HILL: The Justice Department is facing the first major test of its push to investigate President Trump's 2020 election defeat. What you can expect today. A big day ahead in court.

Plus the International Olympic Committee banning transgender women from the games. We'll take a closer look at the reason behind that decision.

Plus, the pickle craze reaching new heights. KFC rolling out, what else? A puffer jacket that is perfect for pickle lovers because, of course.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Happening now, the Trump Justice Department's probe of the 2020 election is getting its first public test in court.

[09:20:06]

A federal judge is hearing arguments in a lawsuit related to the FBI raid of the Fulton County, Georgia, election office. Agents took ballots and other election materials back in January.

Let's go to CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.

You have been following all of the developments throughout this. Give us some sense of what we're expecting to happen as this hits the court system and decisions have to be made. PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We're watching this

so closely today, Sara, because this is the first time that the Trump Justice Department's efforts to reach back into the 2020 election are really being tested in court. And remember, that decision to search that election headquarters down in Atlanta and seize those 2020 election materials by the Trump Justice Department, this was unprecedented. So, that's why we're watching very closely today to see what this judge does.

Now, this is a Trump appointed judge. Already shown some deference to the Justice Department, noting that, look, this is a federal investigation, so it's entitled to broad latitude. But he also overruled the DOJ that didn't even think they needed to have a hearing.

So, today, county officials in Fulton County, they are going to try to convince this judge that those materials that were seized, that they need to be handed back.

Now, I have pressed Justice Department officials on what is behind this decision to revisit something that was already looked at by Trump's previous attorney general, Bill Barr. They didn't find enough to pursue a full-blown investigation. And what they told me is they believe that, look, this was signed off on by a judge, right? There was a search warrant that was approved by a judge. That was their defense of this. They didn't provide anything new or say there was a new development. And of course, county officials have said that search warrant omitted key information that would have been helpful to the judge. And they also emphasized how a lot of what was used to support that search warrant, they are claims that have been debunked from Trump allies.

So, Sara, we're going to be watching this hearing so closely today because it's not just about Fulton County, right? This comes as President Trump says he wants to, quote, "federalize elections." We know that there's been law enforcement activity in other key swing states. So, were looking to see how far are the courts going to let the Trump DOJ reach in to our election systems?

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, look, in the past, during this election cycle, there were, what, 60 courts that knocked down this idea that there was massive fraud that swayed the election. Here we are again. We will see what this court does. And this was a big surprise when we saw this happen there in Fulton County, to everyone, including Fulton County officials.

Thank you so much for your reporting on all of this. You've been keeping track of everything.

All right, breaking -- coming up, the Senate voting unanimously to fund most of DHS, including TSA workers. But the House now has to act. Will they do it in time? When could TSA workers get paid? And will the lines get back to normal anytime soon if that happens? We'll explore that.

Also, the search is on in Wisconsin for a missing kangaroo who is sporting a special diaper. Weird.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:33]

SIDNER: This morning, House lawmakers must now decide the future of a Senate passed bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. But that bill faces a challenge. And even if the House does pass it today, before leaving for a two week recess, it's unclear how soon TSA staffers who haven't been paid for more than 40 days will get paid, and if those who have quit or called out will return to the job. The most recent DHS numbers show nearly 500 officers have quit since the shutdown began last month. On Wednesday, more than 3,100 TSA officers did not show up to work. Many are wrestling with paying for gas, paying for food, paying for housing and childcare.

Also, it's unclear how soon TSA agents will get paid when the shutdown ends. TSA officers had to wait 14 to 30 days to get their back pay after the last government shutdown, which was just last fall by the way,

CNN's Ed Lavandera is at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

I mean, I know it's hard for me to go to you because I know it's just miserable for folks there. Tell me what you're seeing this morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is our fifth day here at this airport. And there's one conversation that has been consistent and has happened to me over and over as people have walked past us quickly, and they asked me to say one thing, to tell the politicians in Washington they're doing a terrible job. That's what people have been telling me over and over throughout this morning and yesterday and the day before. And that is -- kind of speaks to the level of frustration that so many people here are having.

Once again, we're seeing long, long lines here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. This is just part of the line. You can see, once again, it's still filling up the area on the floor just below where these makeshift TSA lines have had to be put in place here. That is an area that is normally the baggage claim area. We've been joking around that there's a Starbucks being built and a Chilis restaurant. And the question is, you know, will these restaurants be built before these people get to the front of the line?

And, you know, we've seen people reading books as they're going through. They have to make the line down there. They come out here, and then they have to go outside into the area, which is normally a passenger drop off area outside where there are eight makeshift lines out there. Then they get to come back inside and make their way back toward the terminal.

So just a massive headache. And that is because there is about a 40 percent roughly throughout the week, close, hovering around there, of TSA call out here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

[09:30:09]