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House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader John Thune said Republicans would pursue a two-track strategy to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, days after Johnson had dismissed a Senate-passed stopgap bill as “a joke.”
The plan called for the House to move the Senate-approved measure that funds most of DHS now, excluding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and then use budget reconciliation to fund those enforcement agencies over the coming weeks or months, according to a joint statement from Johnson and Thune posted on X Wednesday.
The development came as DHS continued operating in a partial shutdown that began in mid-February and snarled airport security, with President Donald Trump separately signing a memo to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees amid the standoff.
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Why It Matters
The two-track approach signaled a potential path to reopen most DHS operations quickly while postponing the most contentious funding questions for ICE and Border Patrol.
Airports experienced long waits and staffing strains during the shutdown, and TSA reported high absence rates and resignations, underscoring the immediate impact on travelers and national security operations.
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The shift also highlighted deep Republican divisions over how to handle Democrats’ demands for changes to immigration enforcement, after the Senate’s early-morning voice vote advanced a bill funding most of DHS without ICE and Border Patrol.
Johnson had rebuked that measure Friday as “a joke,” even as Thune argued it would “get at least a lot of the government opened up again,” the Associated Press reported.
What To Know
On Friday, the Senate approved by voice vote a bill to fund most of DHS while excluding ICE and Border Patrol, and it did not include Democrats’ sought-after limits on immigration officers’ tactics. The AP reported that the agreement was unanimous among senators before they left Washington for recess.
Johnson told reporters Friday that the Senate “gambit” was “a joke” and said he needed to protect the House and the American people, according to the report.
In a subsequent joint statement issued Wednesday, Johnson and Thune said Republicans would fully fund DHS on two parallel tracks: moving the Senate-approved bill to reopen the department now and advancing a budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement and border security for the remainder of the Trump administration.
What Is the New Agreement?
Under the Republican leaders’ plan, the House would first pass the Senate bill funding DHS components such as TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA, while ICE and Border Patrol would be funded later via reconciliation to insulate those agencies from future defunding attempts, according to Johnson and Thune.
The statement said the approach would reopen DHS, pay federal workers, and “specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years.”
What People Are Saying
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in floor remarks last week: “I’m very proud of our Democratic caucus. Throughout it all, Senate Democrats stood united—no wavering, no backing down. We held the line.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader John Thune said in a joint statement on Wednesday: “We operated under a belief that while our country is in the midst of an international armed conflict, Democrats might finally come to their senses and understand that defunding our homeland security agencies is beyond reckless and very dangerous. While we hoped they would accept the 60-day CR to fund the Department entirely so that bipartisan negotiations could continue, it is now abundantly clear that Democrats place allegiance to their radical left-wing base above all else — including their own power of the purse — which means open borders and protecting criminal illegal aliens. That is not acceptable to Republicans in Congress, nor is it to the American people. We cannot allow Democrats to any longer put the safety of the American public at risk through their open border policies, so we are taking that off the table.
“In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress 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. In return, Democrats will once again demonstrate to the American people their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in America."
What Happens Next
Republican leaders said they would attempt to pass the Senate’s DHS measure in the House to reopen the department, then move a reconciliation package to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the next three years. The Senate departed for recess after its pre-dawn action, and it was not immediately clear when bicameral coordination would resume, the AP reported.
Airport operations and staffing issues could ease if TSA pay flows as planned under the president’s memo, though NPR reported that questions remain about the legality and source of the funds. Any reconciliation bill would face scrutiny under Senate rules and a separate timeline.
Update 4/1/26, 4:18 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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