PHOTO COLLECTION: Central Europe Floods

This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.

A resident struggles through mud to his house after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents walk through debris after recent floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A man wades through flood water in Opava, Czech Republic, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Jaroslav Ozana/CTK via AP)

Firemen help residents during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents watch the river during floods Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident waits to be evacuated from his flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Garages and a house flooded in the town Kłodzko, in Poland's southwest, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, after days of unusually heavy rain. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)

A drone image showing the floods in the Ostrava-Koblov district, Czech Republic, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Petr Sznapka/CTK via AP)

Flooded streets from the Danube River in Passau, Germany, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Armin Weigel/dpa via AP)

A woman takes a photo of high levels of the Danube river in Bratislava, Slovakia, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)

Flooded streets and houses in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident with his cat is taken by a rubber boat from his flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Spectators look at the partially collapsed Carolabrücke bridge over the Elbe, which is rising rapidly due to upcoming flood waters, in front of the state chancellery in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, September 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A cyclist looks at Donaukanal channel flood its banks at Urania observatory in central Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

A rescue worker is pulled against a strong current during an evacuation operation during floods in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Residents bucket out water from their garden during floods in Zahorska Bystrica, Slovakia, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomas Hrivnak)

The Bela River flows past a church during floods in Mikulovice, Czech Republic, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident is evacuated from her flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A resident with his dog is taken by a rubber boat from his flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A view of flooded houses in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A man stands in waist-deep water that has flooded the streets and houses in the town of Kłodzko, in Poland's southwest, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, after days of unusually heavy rain. (AP Photo/Krzysztof Zatycki)

A resident hugs with her relative after being evacuated from her flooded house in Jesenik, Czech Republic, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he will soon sign an order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees who have gone without paychecks during the record-long partial government shutdown that has reached 48 days.

He announced the unilateral move in a social media post, blaming Democrats for the impasse while thanking Republican leaders for their work this week in trying to end the standoff.

The Republican president used a similar maneuver to resume pay for the Transportation Security Administration after many employees had called out from work, resulting in long delays at airport security lines for travelers. Trump's latest intervention is expected to apply to other non-law enforcement employees at the department, including many employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and the agency responsible for coordinating federal cybersecurity efforts.

Trump said their families “have suffered far too long.”

“Nevertheless, help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country,” Trump said.

The DHS funding lapse is likely to stretch into next week as the House is contemplating passing a Senate plan it had previously rejected to fund the bulk of the agency, but not its immigration enforcement operations.

There was no legislative resolution Thursday after both chambers met for just a few minutes in pro forma sessions. Nonetheless, the Republican leadership and Trump have coalesced around a plan to fully fund DHS as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the congressional leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they had pursued separate paths that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week for its spring recess without a fix.

During the brief sessions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put aside the House plan to fund the entire department for 60 days. Then the House met briefly without taking up the bipartisan Senate plan that had been worked out with Democrats, though Thune is looking toward eventual passage.

“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Thune, announced Wednesday that they would return to the Senate measure, which funds most of DHS with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans will try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.

Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though Trump has given his support.

Johnson’s embrace of the two-track plan marks a sharp reversal from less than a week ago, when he derided it as a “joke” and said he was “quite convinced that it can’t be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.”

He now appears to be on board. But securing support from his own conference could prove more difficult after a sizable group of House Republicans blasted the Senate-passed bill last week.

House Republicans were expected to hold a conference call later Thursday to discuss the next steps.

Thune pointed to a “number of conversations” when he was asked how the Republican leadership and Trump aligned to move ahead after their apparent divisions a week earlier.

“The thing that some people want to do, we can’t do,” said Thune. “And so you have to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible. And you have to just continue to define reality for people.”

Democrats in both chambers were aligned last week with the Senate's plan, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York blamed House Republicans on Thursday for taking no action on it during the brief morning session.

“The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck,” Schumer said.

Johnson will look to persuade the most conservative lawmakers within his conference to go along with the two-step approach agreed upon with the president, and Trump's latest social media post could help. The president thanked Thune and Johnson for their work, and sought to project Republican unity.

“Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers,” Trump wrote.

Many in the GOP conference have taken the stand that ICE and the Border Patrol needed to be included as part of any funding agreement.

“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”

Meanwhile, the budget package that Trump wants prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to his immigration enforcement agenda. Trump said he wants that legislation on his desk by June 1.

Thune acknowledged the potential hurdles to that route, such as efforts to expand the scope of the bill. He said the goal is to keep it “as narrow and focused as possible” to speed passage.

“We need to kind of move with haste,” he said. “It’s probably not a likely magnet for all these other issues.”

The vast majority of DHS employees have reported to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have gone without pay. As more Transportation Security Administration agents called out from work, there was increasing frustration for air travelers confronted by long waits at some airport security lines. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay after Trump signed an executive order.

About 10,000 FEMA workers are being paid because their wages come out of the non-lapsing Disaster Relief Fund. At least 4,000 FEMA employees are furloughed or currently working without pay right.

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., gestures as he speaks to reporters outside the chamber after passing a a measure by unanimous consent that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security if the House agrees, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill,Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)