Congressional GOP leaders said Wednesday they will move quickly to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown after President Donald Trump set a tough deadline for Republicans to defund immigration enforcement.
The statement from Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson came after Trump set a June 1 deadline for Republicans to defund ICE and Border Patrol through the party-line budget process known as reconciliation — freeing them from the weeks-long fight over the administration’s immigration enforcement strategy that has been at the center of the DHS shutdown.
“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will follow the President’s direction by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” Thune and Johnson said in a joint statement.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking, said the administration supports the GOP leaders’ plan. The White House and congressional Republican leadership have been working since late last week to mutually agree on a reconciliation plan before Congress returns on April 13, according to two people with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe them.
Trump on Wednesday demanded Republicans use the procedural tool that bypasses the Democratic Senate filibuster as the DHS shutdown moves into record-breaking territory.
“We are going to work as fast and focused as possible to defund our border and ICE agents, and the radical left Democrats will not stop us,” the president said. Posted on Truth Social.","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116330487356155648","_Identification": :"0000019d-4d6c-d2da-a39f-5def3faa0000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-4d6c-d2da-a39f-5def3faa0001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Posted on Truth Social.
The post of President essentially supported the approach advocated by Thune. And the plan he later detailed with Johnson mirrors a strategy the Senate was already working on — funding the majority of DHS through a bipartisan agreement with Democrats and then using the reconciliation process to raise money for ICE and Border Patrol.
It’s also a U-turn for Johnson and House Republicans, who on Friday rejected the Senate compromise, saying they could not support a bill that does not include funding for immigration enforcement agencies.
“They sent us a bill that puts the number zero in the bill for funding border security and Customs and Immigration Enforcement,” Johnson said during an interview with Fox & Friends on Tuesday. “We can’t do that. This was the biggest issue in the 2024 election.”
The earliest Senate Republicans could try to pass their bill to refund much of DHS is Thursday morning, when the Senate convenes for a brief pro forma session. For the bill to advance, the Senate will need unanimous approval from all 100 senators — and some GOP senators have publicly criticized the deal since it was struck on Friday.
Both the House and Senate have been adjourned for two weeks, leaving lawmakers pointing fingers at each other in Washington. Democrats have intervened and refused to fund immigration enforcement agencies without placing restrictions on how agents can operate.
The president’s post on Truth Social did not specify whether he wanted the reconciliation bill to be limited only to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding. Earlier, Trump had indicated he wanted to include parts of the GOP voting bill, known as the Save America Act. Congressional Republicans are also trying to include Iran war funding in their reconciliation effort.
Thune and Johnson said Wednesday that the bill would include border security and immigration enforcement funding through the rest of the Trump administration. Some GOP lawmakers have suggested going further and funding ICE and CBP for 10 years — the maximum allowed under reconciliation rules.
Reconciliation is an intensive multi-step process that requires the House and Senate to first agree on a consensus fiscal blueprint known as a budget proposal.
Neither the GOP leader nor Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who provided a separate statement, specified when either chamber would step up to take up the budget resolution. But the Senate is expected to take the first steps, according to two people speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose internal strategy.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that if there is no agreement to reopen DHS by the time Congress returns, “you will see a slim reconciliation bill moving very quickly through the Senate and the House.”
But many House Republicans have been wary of advancing non-enforcement DHS funding at first because of their doubts that the Senate would actually pass more ICE and Border Patrol funding through reconciliation. Some people indicated Wednesday that they did not agree with the new plan.
“Funding for ICE and CBP should never be separated from DHS funding,” Representative Keith Self (R-Texas) wrote on X.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
