House GOP Stalls Senate Plan to Reopen DHS

The Senate thought it had found a way to flip the lights back on at the Department of Homeland Security; the House hit pause instead. In a brief Thursday session, House Republicans declined to advance a funding bill that could have quickly ended the record DHS shutdown, despite GOP leaders having just agreed to that very plan with the backing of President Trump, the New York Times reports. The Senate passed the bill earlier Thursday. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune unveiled the two-step plan in a joint statement Wednesday. The first step involves a partial funding measure that the House had previously rejected.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who days ago derided the partial funding as "a joke" before endorsing it, left it in limbo as the House begins a two-week recess. Hard-right Republicans are revolting because the measure omits funding for immigration enforcement, even though border and ICE operations have been financed separately during the shutdown. "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," GOP Rep. Scott Perry said on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

Democrats say they're ready to support the bill, which would likely pass if Johnson put it on the floor and brought along enough Republicans. For now, the earliest the House could revisit the measure is Monday's next pro forma session, extending uncertainty for thousands of affected DHS workers and travelers already dealing with disrupted airport security. The House is in a two-week recess, with lawmakers not expected to return to Washington until mid-April.

• The second step of the GOP plan involves a budget package that President Trump wants to have on his desk by June 1, the AP reports. The measure, which Republicans plan to pass through the budget reconciliation process without support from Democrats, would fund ICE and CBP for the rest of Trump's term, though Thune acknowledges that it will be tricky to keep the package "narrow and focused."