The Senate Sends Bill Funding Most of DHS to the House — Again

The Senate on Thursday unanimously agreed to send a bill funding most of the Department of Homeland Security to the House for the second time, bringing Congress one step closer to ending the longest partial government shutdown in history.

In a brief pro forma session, senators approved a procedural vote that provides a path to fund the majority of DHS through September — this time, with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s blessing. The measure excludes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection after Senate Democrats demanded reforms of those agencies in any bill to fund the entire department.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune blamed Democrats for the piecemeal approach to funding the department after the bill passed Thursday.

“Where we are is just a regrettable place,” Thune said. “We have the Democrats who are holding the appropriations process hostage. Their anti-law enforcement, open borders, defund the police wing is the Senate wing. I think everybody’s afraid of them, and so we’re stuck in a spot that’s just not good for the country, the future of the appropriations process, or, for that matter, the future of the Senate.”

The spending measure is now headed for the House, where it is expected to pass. Johnson announced on Wednesday that he would support the bill in a sharp reversal after House Republicans rejected a similar Senate-passed measure last Friday.

The about-face came after President Donald Trump appeared to endorse a plan to pass the Senate bill now and fund ICE and CBP later using the reconciliation process, which would only need GOP votes.

Johnson previously told reporters that Trump backed the House’s plan to reject the Senate deal. House Republicans are expected later Thursday morning to hold a conference call to discuss DHS funding.

Thune said it became increasingly clear since Friday that this would be the only path forward for lawmakers to reopen the agency anytime soon.

“You have to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible, and you got to just continue to define reality for people,” Thune said about his conversations with Johnson and Trump. “There were a number of conversations around it, but I think eventually people started honing in on, ‘This is gonna be a path forward that is at least a viable one.’”

With the House out on its spring recess until April 14, it’s unclear when the chamber will return to vote on the spending package and end the 47-day department shutdown. Though members of the House’s rightmost flank are expected to oppose the funding bill, enough Democrats are likely to back it to pass the chamber.

The bill does not include any of the reforms demanded by Democrats after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

The path to funding ICE and the rest of CBP still remains murky. Trump called on Republican lawmakers to pass money for those agencies by June 1, but Republican lawmakers had previously cast doubt on Congress’ ability to pass another reconciliation bill that quickly.

Thune said on Thursday that the conference plans to move immediately to meet Trump’s deadline. He added that Republicans are “singularly” focused on funding ICE and parts of CBP with the bill, adding that leadership plans to make any bill “narrow” and “as focused as possible.” Other issues that some Republicans are interested in attaching — including the SAVE America Act and supplemental funding for the war in Iran — would only complicate the timeline, he said.

“Reconciliation is hard and cumbersome, but we’re going to hop on it right away,” Thune said. “I have had several conversations with Senator [Lindsey] Graham, who chairs the Budget Committee, about how to get something to the floor as quickly as possible.”

Trump dipped into funds passed in last year’s reconciliation bill to pay Transportation Security Administration agents last week after wait times at airports grew to several hours and DHS workers missed paychecks.