Share and Follow
The Senate has taken a significant step in addressing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown by passing a bill that outlines a two-step process to resolve the issue. This legislation, which has now returned to the House for consideration, aims to fund most of the department, excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
In a bipartisan effort, the Senate approved the bill during an early morning pro forma session, sending it to the House on Thursday without opposition. However, when the House convened for its own brief pro forma session shortly thereafter, the measure did not progress due to resistance from some conservative members.
Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia was present to observe the proceedings and mentioned he would likely not have objected to advancing the bill. Interestingly, there were no Republicans present to potentially block such a move.
The bill is part of a broader strategy by Republican leaders and President Trump to reopen essential parts of the DHS, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Coast Guard. This approach has garnered support from Democratic leaders, signaling a willingness to collaborate on this critical issue.
Republican leaders and President Trump are aiming to use that bill reopen the bulk of DHS including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Coast Guard. Democratic leaders have indicated support for that legislation.
Republicans then hope to pass a bill through a GOP-only reconciliation bill to fund border security operations, after they were unable to come to an agreement on immigration enforcement reforms with Democrats who have refused to vote for such funding otherwise.
Trump endorsed that plan on Wednesday, setting a June 1 deadline for the bill to use a special process that bypasses a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
The Senate had passed the bipartisan DHS bill last week, but House Republicans had strongly rejected it, instead passing a stopgap to fund DHS at current levels for eight weeks. Republicans balked at agreeing to split up the DHS bill, comparing it to defunding the police, and fumed at being blindsided at the Senate passing the bill in the wee hours of the morning without a recorded vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House GOP leadership shifted strategies, though, when it became clear that the stopgap could not overcome a filibuster and Trump endorsed funding border security operations in a reconciliation bill.
Both chambers are on recess and not scheduled to return until the week of April 13. The House is scheduled for another pro forma session at 10 a.m. on Monday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Thursday indicated that a reconciliation bill to fund border security operations might not include other priorities that Republicans have discussed including in another GOP-only measure, such as voting reforms inspired by the SAVE America Act and supplemental funding for the Pentagon due to the Iran war.
“Everybody is, I think, singularly focused …. around the things we have to do on the border, on ICE and CBP,” Thune told reporters. “The other things implicate other committees and create jurisdictional challenges and germane issues on the floor. Our theory of the case behind all this was to keep that thing as narrow and focused as possible, and that maximizes, I think, the speed at which we can do it and the support for it.”
Thune said he did not know when the House would move the bill to fund the bulk of DHS.
Updated at 9:11 a.m.