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GOP Plan to Fund DHS Gets Test Vote 04/02 06:07
The Senate is expected to try quickly passing a measure Thursday that would
fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, though it's unclear how soon
the House will follow to largely end the longest partial government shutdown in
history.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is expected to try quickly passing a measure
Thursday that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, though
it's unclear how soon the House will follow to largely end the longest partial
government shutdown in history.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a
plan Wednesday to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security as part of a
two-step process. The agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending
the impasse after they pursued separate plans that resulted in Congress leaving
Washington last week without a fix.
Johnson and Thune announced a return to the bipartisan Senate plan worked
out with Democrats that funds most of the department, with the exception of
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans
would then try later to fund those agencies on their own through party-line
spending legislation that could take months to finish.
Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face
opposition from the GOP's own ranks even though President Donald Trump has
given his support.
"We appreciate and share the President's determination to once and for all
bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown," said Johnson, R-La., and Thune,
R-S.D.
House Republicans refused to go along with the Senate plan last week
excluding ICE and Border Patrol, instead changing the bill to fund all of DHS
for 60 days.
The DHS shutdown reached its 47th day on Wednesday. Senate Democratic leader
Chuck Schumer said in a statement, "Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan
agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction."
The two top Republicans hope to win over skeptical GOP colleagues, but the
most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding for all of Trump's
immigration and deportation operations.
"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is
agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,"
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."
The Senate meets for an early pro-forma session Thursday. Those generally
last just a few minutes as the vast majority of senators are not present.
Senators could take up the measure they passed just last week through a
unanimous consent request, allowing it to pass if no senator objects. The
Senate's action would then send the bill back to the House, which is also
holding a pro-forma session later in the morning.
Meanwhile, the narrow budget package that Trump wants prepared for later
this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of
Trump's term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk
from Democrats objecting to the president's immigration enforcement agenda.
Trump said he wants that legislation on his desk by June 1.
"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish
funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be
able to stop us," Trump said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries released a statement after Johnson
and Thune sent out their announcement, saying, "It's time to pay TSA agents,
end the airport chaos and fully fund every part of the Department of Homeland
Security that does not relate to Donald Trump's violent mass deportation
machine."
The vast majority of Homeland Security workers continue to report to work
during the shutdown, but many thousands have been going without pay. That led
to more Transportation Security Administration agents calling out from work,
causing frustrating security lines at some of the nation's biggest airports.
Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving
backpay, per an executive order from Trump.
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