Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) announced a plan to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown by pursuing a two-track approach that resembles the Senate Republican plan Johnson dismissed as a “joke” just last week.
Under the plan announced Wednesday, House Republican leaders will look to fund most of DHS through the appropriations process, while punting additional funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a later date through the budget reconciliation process.
This notable shift comes just a few days after House GOP leadership refused to take up a Senate-passed DHS funding bill and spent days criticizing the strategy on the grounds that it didn’t fund key components of the department’s immigration enforcement sub-agencies.
The idea, now, is to fund most of the department through the appropriations process and then fund ICE and CBP for three years (the rest of Trump’s term) through reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to circumvent the filibuster and pass legislation with a simple majority vote.
“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 joint statement reads.
“We appreciate that Senator Graham and the Senate Budget Committee have already initiated the process of developing a budget resolution that will ensure border security and immigration enforcement will be funded for the balance of the Trump Administration and insulated from future attempts by the Democrats to defund those agencies,” the congressional GOP leaders added.
In their joint statement, the leaders declined to specify when they hope to push through both pieces of legislation, and whether the House will consider the funding bill that the Senate passed via unanimous consent late last month.
The funding legislation could be taken up as early as Thursday. President Trump is expected to sign it should it reach his desk this week. The DHS shutdown began on February 14 and has caused considerable headaches at airports across the country due to TSA call-outs.
Immigration hawks and House Freedom Caucus members have spent recent days slamming their fellow Republicans in the Senate for conceding to Democrat demands by agreeing to a compromise bill that does not include funding for ICE and CBP. House Republicans are also angry about the lack of enthusiasm in the upper chamber for changes to the filibuster they argue are necessary to pass the SAVE America Act, a Trump-backed voter-eligibility bill.
While the joint Johnson-Thune statement struck a confident tone, it’s unlikely all of those House Republicans will be eager to cave to the Senate now, even if Trump ramps up pressure on any Republican who threatens to torpedo the effort this long into the partial shutdown.
Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) posted on social media Wednesday morning reacting to a news article about Trump’s reported shift toward the Senate-preferred approach: “’Senate GOP sources’ need to understand we’re not isolating @cbp & @ICEgov. They deserve our full support / not setting them up in perpetuity to be hotboxed by Marxist democrats.”
Representative Keith Self (R., Texas) joined in Wednesday afternoon in reaction to Johnson’s announcement: “Funding for ICE and CBP must never be separated from DHS funding. If Republicans isolate it, they’re handing our border and ICE agents straight to the radicals who will defund and dismantle them every chance they get. Fund DHS fully, or the open borders globalists win.”