Senate advances deal to fund agency with TSA
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks with members of the media outside the Senate Chamber after unanimously passing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2026.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
The Senate signed a deal Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration, taking a step toward ending the shutdown that disrupted air travel for much of the past month.
Because the legislatures were out of town for a two-week recess, the legislation was passed in a pro forma session, a brief meeting of both houses of Congress where legislative business does not usually occur.
The House, which met in its own pro forma session late Thursday morning, did not introduce the measure, meaning the partial government shutdown will likely extend into the weekend. The House’s next meeting will be held in pro forma session on April 6, and neither house is scheduled to return in full until the week of April 13.
Democrats have refused to fund DHS since February unless immigration enforcement practices are changed. In January, federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis as part of a federal immigration surge, sparking months of negotiations over the agency’s future.
Meanwhile, pressure has grown on lawmakers to reach an agreement as unpaid TSA agents miss and quit in large numbers, causing long security lines at airports.
The Senate bill passed Thursday would fund DHS except for parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, although both of those subordinate agencies have funding available from the 2025 Republican tax and spending package.
The Senate passed the bill with Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. He filed it a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced they had reached a two-way agreement to fund DHS. Johnson and the House GOP initially rejected the Senate’s approach, and the speaker called it a “joke” last week.
On Wednesday, Johnson changed his mind.
“By pursuing this two-pronged approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, ensure that all federal employees are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that law enforcement can continue unimpeded,” Johnson and Thune said in a joint statement announcing the agreement. he said.
That includes the appropriations bill the Senate passed Thursday, as well as a budget reconciliation initiative; a method of passing a budget and spending priorities that requires a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60 people normally required to overcome a filibuster.
Republicans will aim to fund ICE and CBP through the compromise bill President Donald Trump has requested on his desk by June 1.
“(W)e will continue to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol, working closely with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune, through a process that does not require votes from Radical Left Democrats and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which must be repealed immediately!),” Trump posted on Wednesday. Real Social. “We will work as quickly and as focused as possible to fund our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats will not stop us.”
Although Trump and Republican congressional leaders support a two-part approach to funding DHS, the far-right wing of the House GOP opposes any legislation that excludes ICE and CBP funding and could pose an impediment to passage.
“Let’s make this simple: Bowing to the Democrats and defunding CBP and ICE means agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again. If that’s the vote, I’m a NO” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said. sent to x on Wednesday.
