Bipartisan Senate Action
The Senate took the initial step toward funding most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after House Republican leaders reversed course on Wednesday. The Senate is sending the House a measure that funds all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and portions of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
House GOP's Two-Track Plan
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced a plan Wednesday to fund the Department of Homeland Security through two parallel tracks. The announcement reversed Johnson's position from Friday, when he called the identical Senate proposal a "joke" and said Republicans would not support it. The first track involves the appropriations process, while the second uses the reconciliation process. Thune and Johnson said the plan will "fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited."
Trump's Influence
President Trump called on Congress to fund ICE and CBP through the reconciliation process by June 1. Johnson said on Fox News on Tuesday, "They sent us a bill that literally put the number zero in the bill for the funding of border security and customs and immigration enforcement. We can't do that." Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, "We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us."
Democratic Opposition and Support
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered. We were clear from the start: fund critical security, protect Americans, and no blank check for reckless ICE and Border Patrol enforcement." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said, "House Democrats are prepared to support the bill to end the Trump-Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, make sure TSA agents are paid, stand up for FEMA and for the Coast Guard, for our cyber security professionals, and stop inconveniencing Americans."
Reconciliation Challenges
Republicans will seek three full years of funding for ICE and the Border Patrol in a party-line budget reconciliation package that will bypass Democrats' opposition. GOP lawmakers will have to identify spending cuts to pay for it. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) wrote on social media Wednesday, "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. If that's the vote, I'm a NO."
Shutdown Impact
Thousands of civilian Coast Guard employees and other DHS workers are still not being paid.
Next Steps
Both the House and Senate are away on recess until the week of April 13. The House is set to meet later Thursday morning for its own pro forma session. After the bulk of DHS is funded, Republicans will turn their attention to reconciliation, with a deadline to get the bill on the president's desk by June 1.
The sources also report that Democrats' opposition to funding ICE and Border Patrol enforcement began after two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.