DHS shutdown set to end after House passes bill to fund TSA, most of DHS

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, effectively ending a partial government shutdown that began in February.

The passage of the funding bill comes after more than a month of opposition from House Republicans to the plan, which passed the Senate unanimously in late March. The White House had warned that emergency funding for DHS would run out on Friday.

“Speaker Johnson has extended the DHS shutdown for more than a month for no reason. This is the same bill that the Senate unanimously passed five weeks ago,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement.

The bill eliminates the possibility of more missed paychecks by Transportation Security Administration officials whose underpay caused long lines at airports across the country earlier this year.

This does not include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection and two DHS subagencies tasked with immigration enforcement. Lawmakers are trying to fully fund ICE and CBP through a procedural tool known as budget reconciliation that sets a 50-vote threshold in the Senate for spending measures, rather than the 60 votes typically needed to overcome the filibuster.

The first step of the budget reconciliation process was taken in the Parliament late on Wednesday. Lawmakers are working to complete the final product by June 1, a self-imposed deadline to pass GOP immigration priorities set by President Donald Trump.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. “To get the job done, Senate and House Republicans should pass compromise bills that fully fund ICE and Border Patrol for the remainder of President Trump’s term,” said Lindsey Graham, R.S.C. sent to x on Thursday.

Democrats refused to fund DHS’s immigration enforcement functions after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents during a crackdown on immigrants in Minneapolis in January. Republicans have opposed Democratic calls for changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, leading to a stalemate that has lasted more than 70 days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) initially opposed the Senate version of the bill without ICE and some CBP funding, then announced days later in a joint statement with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) that the House had found a path forward and would soon introduce the measure.

Under pressure from some House GOP members who opposed excluding immigration enforcement dollars from the Senate proposal, Johnson floated the idea of ​​amending the bill earlier this week; This would likely extend the shutdown and require the upper house to weigh in once again.

Finally, on Thursday, under pressure from Trump and with time running out before a previously scheduled one-week congressional recess that begins Friday, Johnson made a move and sent the bill to Trump’s desk.