The week ended with a TSA pay directive, a currency change proposal, and the relocation of the Education Department.
Dante Belcher
Mar 30, 2026
Trump’s 62nd week ended with updates on the government shutdown, Iran, government downsizing and changes to U.S. currency. This comes as Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pay TSA employees, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin saying employees will be paid Monday as airport wait times increase across the country. Meanwhile, as the war in Iran continues, the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in the Middle East, raising implications following previous reports from The Introspective detailing troops being deployed.
At the same time, as efforts to downsize the federal government continue, the Department of Education is moving its headquarters in Washington, D.C., stating that the “headquarters building is no longer needed.” While Trump’s signature will be on all dollar bills for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
TSA and Iran
As the government shutdown continues, Trump signed an executive order—Paying Our Great Transportation Security Administration Officers and Employees—directing DHS to pay TSA employees.
“As the Democrat-caused shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues well into its sixth week, America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” read the executive order, blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
“Since the shutdown began, nearly 500 transportation security officers have left their positions, and thousands more have begun to call out sick at record rates due to lack of pay. As a result, security wait times at some airports have reached untenable lengths of three or more hours. These increased wait times, combined with declining morale among TSA staff, unacceptably heighten the risk of security vulnerabilities within our domestic travel system and has negatively impacted countless Americans,” the order continued.
“Accordingly, I hereby direct the secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them if not for the Democrat-led DHS shutdown.”
In an X post, DHS later said TSA agents will be paid starting Monday.
“President Trump has made the decision that echoes what TSA’s frontline employees and the millions of Americans enduring terrible wait times at our airports are saying: the Democrat DHS shutdown has become an emergency,” wrote the agency.
“Today, at the direction of President Trump and @SecMullinDHS, TSA has immediately begun the process of paying its workforce. TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday, March 30.”
Meanwhile, as the war in Iran continues, the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran as troops deploy to the region.
“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander in chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement obtained by The Washington Post.
Education and Currency
As efforts to downsize the federal government continue, the Department of Education is moving its headquarters in Washington, D.C., stating that the “headquarters building is no longer needed.”
“The Trump administration has successfully decreased the scope of the federal education bureaucracy, so much that the headquarters building is no longer needed,” read a fact sheet announcing the move.
“The Department of Education will move to a new federal building, saving taxpayers over $4 million per year in rental costs. The U.S. Department of Energy will acquire the Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Building as its new headquarters.”
In a press release, Education Secretary Linda McMahon emphasized the move, calling it “unprecedented progress.”
“One year ago, President Trump signed one of the most consequential executive orders of his presidency—to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” she said.
“Thanks to the hard work of so many, we have made unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint, and now we are pleased to give this building to an agency that will benefit far more from its space than the Department of Education.”
At the same time, the Treasury Department announced that Trump’s signature — alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s — will appear on dollar bills to celebrate the U.S.’s 250th anniversary.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability,” said Bessent in a press release.
“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the semiquincentennial.”
The Introspective 
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