Trump Directs Officials to Pay All D.H.S. Employees

President Trump on Friday signed a directive calling on his administration to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees, an effort to circumvent congressional gridlock and end the record-long shutdown of an agency tasked with protecting the country.

In the presidential memorandum, Mr. Trump directed top officials to “provide each and every employee of D.H.S. with the compensation and benefits” that they would have received if not for the shutdown. He noted that tens of thousands of employees at the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had gone without pay for nearly two months.

The Friday order came after House Republicans refused to clear a Senate plan that would have restored funding to the agency, prolonging the shutdown. Mr. Trump earlier this week had hinted that he would sign a directive calling for all Department of Homeland Security employees to be paid, as he criticized Democrats for their role in the impasse. The president signed a similar memo last week ordering the department to pay Transportation Security Administration officials after about 60,000 employees from the agency had to report for work without pay for weeks.

Many T.S.A. employees did not show up for work, causing clogged security lines at airports and major political vulnerability for the White House.

But even after Mr. Trump signed that directive, scores of employees at the department responsible for responding to natural disasters, cyberattacks and maritime threats went without pay.

“Thousands of D.H.S. employees who are performing their critical public safety responsibilities are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families,” Mr. Trump said in the memo he signed on Friday. “This callous treatment of D.H.S. employees must end in order to ensure that America is not susceptible to security threats and maintains readiness to respond to emergencies.”