Republican leaders in Congress said on Wednesday the eight-week-long partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security would soon come at an end.
Democratic lawmakers had forced the shutdown, which stymied air travel after the Transportation Security Administration ran out of payroll funds, over appropriations that would have funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. GOP leaders in both chambers shared that they would pass a bill without appropriations for the agencies carrying out President Donald Trump‘s mass deportation scheme. before pushing a separate bill to fund ICE and CBP.
“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,” Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., shared in a statement.
Trump agreed that the shutdown-ending deal was merely the first step toward getting everything on the Republican agenda.
“We are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune,” he wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
Democratic Party leaders also celebrated the deal. Senate Minority Chuck Schumer said that House Republicans “caved” to the unified opposition of Democrats.
“For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction. Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered,” Schumer wrote on X. “We were united, held the line, and refused to let Republican chaos win.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries agreed.
“House Democrats continue to stand up for the American people and aggressively push back against far-right extremism,” he said in a statement. “Mike Johnson and House Republicans have come to realize that we will never bend the knee.”
