WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved a Senate-passed bill that would fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, ending the record 75-day shutdown of the sprawling federal agency.
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President Donald Trump had urged lawmakers to pass the bill and vowed to sign it into law. It passed “by voice,” with members shouting their approval without recording individual votes.
The bill will reopen DHS without providing new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection, as Democrats demand changes to immigration enforcement. Both ICE and border enforcement had funding during the shutdown, and Republicans will attempt in the coming weeks to keep them funded for the rest of Trump’s term.
The House’s action came right against a critical deadline. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had warned lawmakers that if they did not pass funding by Thursday, emergency funding would run out and thousands of workers would not be paid.
The successful vote came before House and Senate lawmakers departed for a weeklong recess at the end of Thursday. House and Senate lawmakers still need to make sure a foreign spying program doesn’t expire Thursday.
Once Trump signs the funding bill later Thursday, DHS agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service will be funded through Sept. 30.
Democrats had forced a DHS shutdown Feb. 14, after Republicans rejected their demands to make reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, including mandating body cameras and limiting raids in sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals.
In late March, the Senate unanimously approved the legislation to fund most of the DHS agencies, except for ICE and Border Patrol. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected that plan as “a joke” at the time.
Asked what had changed in the month since, Johnson noted the party’s progress on funding ICE and Border Patrol. On Wednesday, the House passed a budget resolution that would create a pathway to fund both agencies for the duration of Trump’s term. That measure has already passed the Senate.
“We got the budget resolution passed. This is very, very important, because that will ensure that border security and immigration enforcement will continue today and well into the future. … Democrats got absolutely nothing for their political charade and shenanigans out of them,” he told reporters after the vote.
“We’re not going to have lines at TSA. Everybody will get their paychecks now,” he added.
The budget resolution instructs congressional committees to draft legislation and authorize $70 billion to pay for ICE and Border Patrol for roughly the next three years.
Under that budget “reconciliation” process, Republicans would be able to pass that legislation on their own, with no Democratic support needed in the House or Senate. If nearly all Republicans are on board, the GOP would not need to make any of the policy changes demanded by Democrats to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
The Senate passed a short-term extension of the spy program, known as FISA Section 702, which will now need to pass the House before the end of Thursday deadline. Members of both parties said it would be devastating for national security if authorization for that program expired.