Overview
- TMZ photos published Friday show House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, on a beach trip in Orange Beach, Alabama, with two security officers and a driver.
- A Scalise spokesperson blamed Democrats for the shutdown and said House Republicans voted four times to fund Homeland Security and plan to do so when Congress returns.
- Congress remains on a two-week recess as the Homeland Security funding lapse stretches for weeks with no bipartisan agreement in place.
- President Trump restored pay by executive order first for TSA officers and later for all DHS employees, which provides temporary relief but does not replace a full funding bill.
- Media outlets have tracked other Republicans on trips, including Sen. Lindsey Graham at Walt Disney World and Rep. John James after a Turks and Caicos visit, a spotlight that has not yet produced a funding resolution.