The 76-day partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown \u2014 the longest government shutdown of any kind in history \u2014 is one step closer to finally ending.<\/p>\n
The House approved a bill<\/a> to fund agencies under DHS other than Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection on Thursday, just before the chamber was on track to leave for a recess. Leaders used a process to expedite approval of the bill, which would typically require a two-thirds majority to pass, that allowed the House to pass the measure by voice vote. The bill now heads to the president\u2019s desk, where he is expected to sign it soon. The bill had been languishing<\/a> in the lower chamber since the Senate passed<\/a> it in early April.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who\u2019ve worked hard to protect our nation \u2014 Secret Service agents, transportation agents, FEMA, Coast Guard \u2014 all these important agencies, they\u2019re going to get paid. They\u2019re going to get the respect they\u2019re due,\u201d Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri told NOTUS, adding that members of the Appropriations Committee can now focus fully on government funding for 2027.<\/p>\n Hard-line conservatives and members of the House Freedom Caucus were sitting in the House chamber when the bill came to the floor, waiting to object and prevent it from passing unanimously. Rep. Chip Roy said in a floor speech that \u201cisolating\u201d ICE and border patrol is \u201coffensive\u201d to its agents.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are all unified in funding the rest of DHS, we are absolutely horrified that we are blowing up the appropriations process to target those brave men and women,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there was a vote, I would have voted no,\u201d Roy told reporters later. \u201cBut we weren\u2019t going to win that vote, so we decided to go and let it go by voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Ending the DHS shutdown marked a rare moment of governing, following a week of fighting and dysfunction<\/a> within the Republican conference.<\/p>\n Republican leadership held open a vote on a GOP budget resolution funding ICE and CBP until 2035 for five hours Wednesday night because hard-line conservatives were holding out their votes. But these holdouts weren\u2019t opposed to the contents of that budget resolution: They were negotiating separately over an ethanol fuel bill. After hours of talks, including a closed-door meeting over pizza in Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s office, the holdouts fell in line.<\/p>\n For weeks, House Republican leadership refused to put the rest of the DHS funding on the floor until the ICE and CBP budget resolution, which had already passed<\/a> the Senate, passed in the House. That puzzled Senate Republicans as Speaker Johnson released a statement <\/a>in support of the bill on April 1, vowing action in the \u201ccoming days.\u201d<\/p>\n When the budget resolution finally passed late Wednesday night, it opened the floodgates for passing the farm bill and funding for the rest of DHS on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to leave that hanging out there,\u201d Rep. Blake Moore, vice chair of the House Republican Conference, said of the DHS bill. \u201cThat was a really responsible thing that we did yesterday, if I may say so myself, but we had to make sure that was in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore also said before the vote that passing DHS funds under suspension \u201cmight be the only option\u201d left.<\/p>\n