O'Hare Airport not seeing the lengthy TSA wait times afflicting other U.S. airports

Despite the 42-day Homeland Security shutdown, travelers at O'Hare International Airport said they haven't seen the extremely long waits in TSA security lines – in some cases 2 to 4 hour waits – that have plagued some other airports across the country.

On Friday, the Mitchell family was grateful to arrive at O'Hare to a short security line and staffed TSA desks as they prepared to fly to Germany.

They ended up with about six hours to kill at O'Hare before their flight.

"We're surprised that it doesn't look like it's going to be too long of a wait, and we're excited about it," Tiffany Mitchell said.

Like many, they arrived more than four hours before their flight, out of fear of long waits in security lines.

"We weren't sure. My husband is an on-time person, so he's like, 'We're leaving at 9 o'clock, no matter what time our flight is leaving," Mitchell said.

That's because a shortage of TSA officers — many working without pay — has led to call-offs, staffing gaps, and growing frustration at airports across the country.

"If they're not being paid, they shouldn't be working," Mitchell said.

In Washington, President Trump has signed an executive order to ensure TSA agents will be paid during the Homeland Security shutdown, using funds from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act to cover TSA paychecks as pressure grows to ease airport chaos.

But that move does not end the shutdown. A Senate plan to fund most of Homeland Security — including TSA — was rejected by House Republicans on Friday. They want a broader bill that also funds immigration enforcement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called the Senate-approved legislation to fund most of Homeland Security "a joke"

"The reason that we can't accept this ridiculousness, okay, is because we're not going to risk not funding the agencies that keep the American people safe," Johnson said.

House Republicans are pushing a competing short-term plan to fund the entire department as it stands through the end of May. But the Senate has left for a two-week recess, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House plan would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate, meaning there's still no end in sight for the Homeland Security shutdown.

CBS News travel expert Peter Greenberg said, nonetheless, easier travel could be coming.

"If they resolve this issue legislatively or by executive order, you could see things back to relative normal – emphasis on relative – in the next 4 to 5 days," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that TSA has "immediately" begun the process of paying workers in response to the president's directive to pay them using funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill, and employees will soon begin receiving their paychecks. 

"TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday, March 30," the department said. 

But the president's executive order is also certain to face legal challenges whenever it goes into effect.