It looks like the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security will continue at least until next week, and probably longer.
Early Thursday morning, the Senate sent its bipartisan DHS funding bill to the House for the second time, amid hopes that the House would pass it by voice vote in a brief pro forma session.
Under the terms of an agreement announced yesterday by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Republicans would pass the Senate bill, which funds DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection – an approach the House rejected just last week. Republicans in both chambers would then fund ICE and CBP, perhaps for as long as three years, via budget reconciliation, with the latter process playing out over the coming weeks.
But the House took no action to pass the Senate bill Thursday morning, quickly gaveling in and out of session, leaving the issue until at least Monday, when the House has its next scheduled pro forma session.
Conservative fury: House conservatives have angrily rejected the Senate bill, saying they would never support a DHS bill that leaves out funding for ICE and CBP agents. Johnson himself called the bill “a joke,” but reversed himself yesterday when he agreed to provide funding for DHS in two separate bills, and President Trump expressed approval for the approach.
House conservatives, though, have stuck to their guns in opposition to the Senate bill. In a conference call Thursday afternoon, they reportedly bashed the leadership plan. Johnson defended it, but conservatives demanded that the House start working on the reconciliation bill before approving the Senate’s bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he didn’t know when the House would address the bill. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully they'll move it,” he said. “And you know, [with] the understanding that we're going to come behind it with the recon bill. I mean, I think this whole — where we are is just a regrettable place.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the House to act quickly. “House Republicans own the longest government shutdown in history,” Schumer said in a statement Thursday. “The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck.”
Trump to order pay: President Trump said Thursday that he plans to sign an executive order directing DHS to pay all employees. The move could reduce pressure on lawmakers to solve the problem through legislation anytime soon.
“Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security.”
Last week, Trump ordered DHS to pay TSA employees, and the new order would presumably cover all other workers in the massive department, which includes the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secret Service, among others.
Trump did not say where the funds would come from, or how long DHS employees could expect to be paid. Some DHS employees, including those in ICE and CBP, have been paid throughout the shutdown, drawing on funds provided by the reconciliation bill Republicans passed last summer.
The bottom line: The plan to fund DHS appears to be in limbo following vigorous pushback from House conservatives. There is now little expectation that the House will address the issue before Congress returns from its break in mid-April.