'I am going to do it': Trump says he will pay TSA workers

President Donald Trump announced March 26 that he aims to bring the chaos at the nation’s airports to an end by signing an executive order to ensure TSA agents get paid.

"I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports," the president said in a statement Thursday evening. "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."

The president’s announcement comes as a partial shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security has left airport security workers still expected to work but without pay. Many have quit or stopped showing up. As a result, long lines have snarled some of the nation’s biggest transportation hubs.

USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for information about how the president would ensure workers get paid. It's unclear what legal authority the president has over the issue.

It’s unclear when exactly Trump plans to sign the proposed order.

As a result of the partial government shutdown, scenes of airport security lines stretching out airport doors have been seen across the country. 

In Atlanta on March 23, flyers out of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport waited as long as five hours before reaching a security checkpoint. Passengers at hubs in New York and Texas were also left waiting for hours.

The lines have proved an issue for federal officials on government business. 

After a collision on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport left two pilots dead on March 22, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said the TSA lines delayed one of her investigators from reaching the scene by hours. Homendy suggested she and other members of her team drove up from Washington, D.C., to avoid airport security delays.

Trump’s proposed turn to paying workers via executive order follows other attempts to mitigate the impact of the shutdown on airports.

The president ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be reassigned to airport security duties in an effort to get travelers onto planes. The move to use agents from the unpopular Homeland Security agency has prompted protests and backlash from labor leaders.

At an event Wednesday evening, Trump also floated the idea of deploying the National Guard to assist with airport security.