Almost two months into a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, House and Senate Republicans say they are close to a deal — however tentative and contentious — to reopen it. Refusing to wait, President Donald Trump announced an executive order to pay employees anyway. But that doesn’t mean the damage hasn’t already been done, and potentially to the unlikeliest of victims: the FIFA World Cup tournament.

Testifying before a House committee late last month, the Transportation Security Administration’s acting chief, Ha Nguyen McNeill, warned of a “perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports for the World Cup games.” Expect it to take up to six months — long after the tournament ends in July — to replace the hundreds of TSA agents who have quit since the shutdown began in February.

© Bloomberg