Deal to end Homeland Security shutdown reached, GOP leaders say

Republican leaders announced a deal to end the nearly seven‑week partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by passing a Senate bill that funds DHS except for ICE and Border Patrol, while planning to fast‑track a separate budget that will provide additional immigration‑enforcement funding later in the year.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security funding crisis that has plagued Washington and the country for nearly seven weeks – upending airports, jeopardizing Americans' safety and ultimately becoming the longest-ever partial government shutdown – is finally on track to end.

Congressional Republicans announced a new deal on April 1, saying the House of Representatives would agree to pass a previously approved bipartisan Senate bill to fully fund DHS minus Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

At the same time, they said they'd fast-track separate legislation to secure more long-term dollars for those same agencies.

“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," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said in a joint statement.

It was an abrupt about-face for House Republicans, who'd revolted March 27 against the Senate compromise, which was passed unanimously in the middle of the night. Johnson, facing pressure from conservative hardliners, just days ago called the Senate agreement a "joke." The high-profile split among lawmakers illuminated dramatic divisions in the GOP – until President Donald Trumpintervened on April 1 and functionally endorsed the Senate approach.

Read more: Homeland Security shutdown breaks GOP divisions in Congress wide open

It wasn't entirely clear immediately what the timeline for ending the shutdown would look like, given that both chambers of Congress are on a scheduled two-week recess until April 13. Several congressional aides told USA TODAY the Senate will need to pass its DHS bill again – likely by unanimous consent during a brief "pro forma" session on April 2 – before it's kicked back over to the House for another vote.

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Crucially, neither of the two top Democrats in Congress indicated they would derail the proposed path forward. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said after the deal was announced that "House Republicans caved."

“For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," he said in a statement. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered. We were clear from the start: fund critical security, protect Americans, and no blank check for reckless ICE and Border Patrol enforcement."

In a separate statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said 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 political shift on Capitol Hill, finally revealing a plausible shutdown off-ramp, marked the culmination of a drawn-out DC showdown that has tested Democrats' resolve, in a high-stakes midterm election year, to visibly push back against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.

The result, as is often the case with (increasingly frequent) government shutdowns, was a mixed bag.

For a party struggling to grasp levers of power, the gambit shone a damning, bright spotlight on a controversial and politically complex issue for the GOP for more than a month. And it yielded some significant changes: Federal agents were drawn down from Minnesota after the highly scrutinized killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

President Trump ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, though that was largely related to a separate controversy over expensive TV ads she oversaw. Her replacement publicly committed to better transparency – and at least some new guardrails on immigration enforcement.

Yet even the weeks of airport chaos weren't enough to pressure Republicans and the White House to agree to some of the more significant reforms Democrats were clamoring for. A ban on mask-wearing by officers and requirements for judicial warrants for immigration raids were among the demands left out of the final deal, though it did include some accountability measures for DHS.

While Congress won't immediately fund ICE and Border Patrol, both those divisions of DHS already received big cash infusions as part of the so-called "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" passed last year. That tax and spending law was approved through a special process for budget bills called reconciliation, which only requires simple majority support among lawmakers instead of the more typical 60 votes in the Senate.

Just before the latest shutdown deal was reached, President Trump ordered Republicans to pass a new reconciliation bill, this time with more immigration enforcement funding and cash for the Iran war. He wants the legislation on his desk by June 1.