{"id":20626,"date":"2026-03-27T06:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-agrees-to-end-shutdown-for-most-of-dhs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:47:08","slug":"senate-agrees-to-end-shutdown-for-most-of-dhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-agrees-to-end-shutdown-for-most-of-dhs\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate agrees to end shutdown for most of DHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After two months of unyielding negotiations, both parties gave up early Friday on reaching a grand accord to reform and fund the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

Instead, Senate Republicans accepted what Democrats have been offering for weeks \u2014 cash for all of DHS except for ICE and part of Customs and Border Protection.<\/p>\n

The Senate approved the funding package by a voice vote and is now expected to begin a scheduled two-week recess. The House could vote as soon as Friday, before the shutdown would break the record Saturday night for the longest funding lapse of any federal agency in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> called the outcome \u201cunfortunate\u201d Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dems wanted reforms. We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms but, you know, we\u2019re going to have to fight some of those battles another day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thune said the House was \u201caware\u201d of the Senate\u2019s plan but did not know what the other chamber would do. He also said he spoke with President Donald Trump Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s surrender followed Trump\u2019s announcement Thursday night that DHS will start paying TSA agents<\/a>, who have worked without compensation since the shutdown began almost six weeks ago. Before that move, lawmakers and their staff worried that a nationwide walkout of TSA agents could take place as soon as Friday, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions.<\/p>\n

Democratic senators said minutes after Trump\u2019s announcement that there were still bipartisan talks ongoing. But Republicans, increasingly skeptical that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> would ever cut a deal, signaled that they viewed the negotiations as effectively over.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is up,\u201d Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso<\/a> (R-Wyo.) said.<\/p>\n

For Democrats, the solution to the DHS shutdown means no additional constraints on the two agencies left not fully funded since federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota in January. Democrats refused to approve new spending for those agencies absent major policy changes, including banning DHS agents from wearing masks and requiring judicial warrants for immigration raids.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenate Democrats were clear: no blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol,\u201d Schumer said Friday. \u201cDemocrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump\u2019s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate-approved package includes some of the provisions agreed to as part of the January funding negotiations, including $20 million for body cameras for immigration enforcement agents.<\/p>\n

Over the last week, Republicans have been talking about pumping more funding to immigration operations without Democratic votes, by harnessing the party-line reconciliation process they used to enact their \u201cbig, beautiful\u201d tax-cuts-focused bill last summer. Republicans pitched the strategy after Trump argued they should not take any deal unless it’s linked to the SAVE America Act, an elections bill that doesn\u2019t have a path to passing the Senate.<\/p>\n

Doing another party-line bill is facing early doubts from House and Senate Republicans, who are skeptical they will be able to marshal their narrow margins just months before the midterms.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, and even if the reconciliation effort falls short, ICE and CBP can operate on what remains of the nearly $140 billion windfall they received under last year\u2019s megabill \u2014 far more than the total of $28 billion the two agencies were previously set to receive for the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Asked about pursuing another reconciliation bill for the immigration enforcement money, Thune said Friday that it is a \u201cgood possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Eric Schmitt<\/a> (R-Mo.) warned Democrats on Friday to \u201cbe careful what you wish for\u201d and that \u201cthe filibuster cannot save you\u201d from what Republicans plan to enact through reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s coming next will supercharge deportations,\u201d Schmitt added.<\/p>\n

The unexpected resolution came as senators grew increasingly eager to end the shutdown with both congressional chambers scheduled to leave town Friday for a two-week recess.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans said Thursday they had made what they called their \u201cfinal\u201d offer to Democrats \u2014 funding all of DHS except ICE\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations but with additional language meant to assuage Democrats\u2019 concerns. But optimism for an agreement quickly ran aground in the morass of legislative negotiating.<\/p>\n

Schumer didn\u2019t mention the spending discussions during his daily speech from the floor Thursday. And Sen. Jacky Rosen<\/a> (D-Nev.) said they weren\u2019t presented with the latest GOP offer during Democrats\u2019 closed-door lunch.<\/p>\n

Hours later, Trump announced his unilateral move to pay TSA workers, short-circuiting any further talks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two months of unyielding negotiations, both parties gave up early Friday on reaching a grand accord to reform and fund the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, Senate Republicans accepted what Democrats have been offering for weeks \u2014 cash for all of DHS except for ICE and part of Customs and Border Protection. The Senate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}