The House approved a bill Thursday to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security and President Trump quickly signed it, ending a partial shutdown that started 76 days ago, making it the longest in history.
By unanimous consent, the House approved the Senate-passed funding bill funding the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration and Secret Service through September 30.
The vote comes after DHS, which has been using alternative funding to pay its workers, warned that those other sources would be tapped out at the end of the month, leaving it unable to cover employee paychecks. The White House had urged House lawmakers to fund the department before they leave for a planned recess next week.
More than 1,100 TSA agents have quit since the shutdown began, and the prospect of having workers go without pay yet again raised fears that airports could again be plagued by callouts and lengthy delays.
“It is about time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who introduced similar legislation in February. “This has gone on far too long. This is no way to govern, this is no way to run a legislative body, it is a failure of leadership.”
The DHS bill does not include money for the department’s immigration enforcement agencies, which Republicans are looking to fund through a budget reconciliation process that bypasses the threat of a Democratic filibuster. Democrats have refused to provide funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the border patrol without reforms to those agencies’ tactics.
Johnson notches wins after a challenging week: The House vote capped a hard-fought series of legislative wins this week for House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican leaders, who had to quell revolts from members on several issues along the way. The Republican infighting had held up the legislative process of passing the budget resolution as well as a farm bill that also passed today and an extension of a key surveillance tool.
“Despite unrelenting predictions from many of you today in the press that we would fail this week, we did exactly the opposite,” Johnson told reporters, taking a victory lap. “I’m really glad to tell you that House Republicans pulled together and delivered some major pieces of legislation and huge priorities for the country in the last few days.”
The vote on the funding bill came after the House last night adopted a Republican budget blueprint, taking another major step in the reconciliation process that the party is using to provide around $70 billion for immigration enforcement agencies. That vote was 215-211 along party lines. Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, an independent who left the Republican Party, voted “present.”
As with so many House votes lately, this one involved some drama, as it was held open for more than five hours as GOP leaders tried to settle disputes, including a farm bill fight over the use of ethanol in gasoline, and wrangle the support needed for passage.
The Senate already adopted the same budget resolution, so the House vote allows Republicans to push ahead with their plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for the rest of President Trump’s term. House Republicans had insisted on seeing the immigration funding was at least well underway before passing the spending bill for the rest of DHS, which the Senate approved weeks ago. Johnson and House Republicans sat on the Senate bill for weeks after the speaker initially called it a “joke” and then agreed to move ahead with it.
Johnson called the budget resolution the most important accomplishment of the week. “This is very, very important because that will ensure that border security and immigration enforcement will continue today and well into the future,” Johnson said, criticizing Democrats for their opposition to the funding.
“Democrats got absolutely nothing for their political charades and shenanigans,” he said.
Some Democrats urged Republicans to resume negotiations on immigration enforcement reforms. Rep. Jamie Raskin accused Republicans of “bankrolling Trump’s violent Gangster State” and funding ICE without needed reforms instead of dealing “with the reality of what they’ve created — a monster here, with American citizens being shot down in cold blood at point blank range in Minnesota.”
What’s next: Senate leaders are reportedly aiming to hold a floor vote on their reconciliation bill the week of May 11 as they work to meet Trump’s June 1 deadline for getting the measure to his desk. Republicans are also looking to pull together another reconciliation bill containing a number of other conservative policy priorities.