TSA workers, essential to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are among the approximately 61,000 essential TSA employees who are being forced to work without pay due to a six-week congressional stalemate over funding. President Donald Trump has ordered DHS to pay TSA officers in a memo, and the Senate has voted to fund most of the DHS, including TSA, though House Republicans rejected this measure. Many TSA officers are increasingly desperate for financial relief as their families are buried under a mountain of unpaid bills, debt, and fees from missing two full paychecks. Some officers have been handed eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and been unable to afford medication. Nearly 500 TSA employees have quit since the start of the partial shutdown and thousands have been called out of work each day as they struggle to afford gas, child care, food and housing.