Subcommittee chairman U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) presides over a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether U.S. President Donald Trump had interfered with the 2020 election, code-named Arctic Frost, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
TMZ called out a pair of Senate Republicans for hitting the road and leaving Washington, D.C., without a TSA deal on Friday.
House GOP lawmakers on Friday rejected a DHS funding bill passed overnight in the Senate, which would exclude federal immigration enforcement agencies from the major spending bill. The move left House Republicans fighting over the next moves just as GOP senators had left town for Easter recess.
TMZ caught Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) heading to board a plane early Friday at Reagan National Airport and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) seated on a flight.
"Well, we'll see. We made some temporary headway but we got a lot of work to do still," Thune told a reporter while walking to catch his flight.
The senators were criticized for leaving Capitol Hill while thousands of federal workers went unpaid for the fourth week since the partial government shutdown started.
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday said that TSA workers were expecting to receive payment as soon as Monday, following President Donald Trump's executive order to pay Transportation Security Administration workers, CNN reported.
🚨 Senators Ted Cruz and John Thune leave D.C. amid the government shutdown.
Exclusive details: https://t.co/CUnFtLge3rpic.twitter.com/q9B9IDLAsw
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 27, 2026
Senate Majority Leader John Thune also booked it out of D.C., hopping a plane Friday AM at Reagan National Airport.
🎥: Fox News pic.twitter.com/lurX3VOOIZ
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 27, 2026