OAN Staff Reports
UPDATE – 10:04 PM: The House of Representatives has approved a temporary funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid a 42-day shutdown that has left many federal workers unpaid.
On Friday evening, the House voted 213-203, largely along party lines, to extend funding for the department for two months.
Only a few lawmakers crossed party lines, including Democrats Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and Don Davis (D-N.C.).
The DHS has been without funding since February 14.
Currently, Congress is in recess, and lawmakers are not expected back until after Easter.
4:35 PM: House Republicans have indicated they will not accept the Senate’s recently passed bill to fund DHS, primarily because it lacks funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as stated by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Early Friday, the Senate approved the measure in a voice vote at 2 a.m., which some have labeled the “No-ICE” bill, right before leaving for a two-week recess—effectively pushing the issue to the House. The bill aims to reopen parts of the DHS but does not include funding for ICE or border security.
Johnson (R-La.) expressed that the bill is inadequate without addressing immigration and border security needs.
“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson told reporters.
He mentioned considering a proposal for a clean 60-day continuing resolution that would fund the DHS and also include ICE. A vote on this temporary measure to sustain the entire DHS until May 22 is set for Friday evening, with the House expected to reconvene at 8:00 p.m. ET, and a final passage around 10:30 p.m. ET.
The expectation is for House Republicans to pass the bill, but uncertainty looms over whether the Senate will approve it. Many Senators have already left Washington, and Democrats are opposed to any funding bill that allocates money to ICE.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) commented that a proposed bill funding the entire DHS for 60 days would likely not gain traction in the Senate, calling it “dead on arrival.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) indicated there’s “overwhelming support” among Democrats for the Senate deal and mentioned they might assist in moving it forward during the procedural vote, which is usually along party lines.
“We’ve been clear from day one: Democrats will fund critical Homeland Security functions—but we will not give a blank check to Trump’s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms,” Schumer stated.
During the early hours of the standoff on Friday, the House swiftly pushed back against the Senate bill, highlighting its lack of ICE and CBP funding as well as the omission of President Trump’s SAVE America Act, which includes voter ID requirements.
The Senate-approved measure also did not meet other Democratic demands, such as requirements for judicial warrants for federal immigration officers.
“House Republicans are NOT going to be part of any effort to reopen our borders or stop immigration enforcement,” Johnson tweeted. “We must fully fund Homeland Security and support our brave law enforcement heroes who keep Americans safe.”
On Friday, Trump issued a memorandum to restart pay for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers who have been working without compensation since February 14, aiming to ease congestion at airports nationwide.
“If Democrats in Congress will not act to honor the service of our TSA officers, my Administration will take action,” the directive reads. “These circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security.”
The refusal by Democrats to fund the DHS came after two U.S. citizens engaged in standoffs with ICE and CBP agents died, prompting TSA workers to go unpaid and leading to hundreds quitting, resulting in unprecedented lines and delays at key airports.
“We’ve been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “But they got no reforms on DHS, which they could have had if they had been willing to work with us.”
Republicans argue that if Schumer and his fellow lawmakers truly sought reforms, they would have agreed on funding for immigration enforcement rather than focusing only on air travel, given that DHS is responsible for national protection.
Thune suggested that this situation could have been avoided, stating, “this could have been done three weeks ago.”
ICE and CBP currently have access to significant funds after a major reconciliation bill passed in July 2025 allocated about $75 billion to ICE and around $64 billion to CBP as advance funding.
Nevertheless, this funding is meant to be temporary to enhance enforcement capacity—specifically aimed at mass deportations and border wall construction—over four years, rather than to support ongoing operations.
“The good news is we anticipated this a year ago,” Thune stated. “One reason we front-loaded advanced funding was to prepare for likely issues, and it did happen.”
A small faction of House Republicans advocating for increased ICE funding may attempt to obstruct the voting on the measure. There’s an alternate backup plan known as “Suspension of the Rules,” which allows a bill to pass quickly with a two-thirds majority, but this is only applicable on weekdays. As it’s Friday, that option is off the table until the following week.
House Republicans are adjusting their expectations regarding what can realistically be achieved with the Senate bill, possibly letting go of the voter ID law but likely aiming for additional ICE funding.
“I think we have to set our sights a little bit lower on this reconciliation bill,” Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) mentioned. “It has to be targeted to fund ICE for 10 years, that’s the priority.”
