Congress, Gov. to deal with DHS shutdown. Funding, Voter ID card return

By Therese Boudreaux | center square

(meaningful news) – After a two-week recess, Congress returned Monday facing a still-shuttered Department of Homeland Security and a massive legislative agenda.

Government shutdown and ICE and CBP funding.

As of Monday, the Department of Homeland Security will have gone 55 days without key funding — the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Democrats are demanding that any annual Homeland Security appropriations bill — which funds ICE, Border Patrol, TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and other agencies — include a long list of restrictions on immigration enforcement.

After weeks of failed negotiations, Republican leaders have determined the only way to reopen DHS without capitulating to Democrats’ demands is to strip ICE and CBP funding from the Homeland Security bill.

Such legislation has already passed the Senate and only needs House approval to reach the President’s desk.

Republicans then plan to use a party-line budget reconciliation bill to provide cash to immigration enforcement agencies not only for the current fiscal year but for years to come.

Unlike other struggling DHS agencies, ICE and CBP have been unaffected by the DHS shutdown. Republicans’ previous reconciliation bill, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” boosted funding to each agency by more than $70 billion, separate from their annual appropriations money that Republicans are trying to push forward.

Using budget reconciliation as a means of providing annual appropriations funds is an unconventional and risky maneuver.

President Donald Trump wants the legislation on his desk by June 1, and Republicans would need to draft and pass a budget proposal — a blueprint for a reconciliation bill — before the bill can pass.

Senate Republican leaders have been fuming over the weekend and may release the text of the budget proposal as soon as next week.

US Government funding for fiscal year 2027

In addition to passing a hybrid Homeland Security bill to end the DHS shutdown and ensure it is funded for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, House lawmakers are jumping into fiscal year 2027 funding talks.

Less than six months before the next fiscal year begins and federal agencies need a fresh overhaul of funding, the White House sent its $2.1 trillion budget request to Congress.

Lawmakers will use it as a general starting point for negotiations, although they almost always make significant changes. The House Budget Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to consider the President’s proposal.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations committees will hold about a dozen hearings next week to hear input from federal agencies.

Officials from the U.S. Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security will all appear before the committee and present their own budget requests.

Iran War Powers Resolution

While these hearings are taking place, House and Senate Democratic leaders plan to again vote on resolutions that would stop the Trump administration’s ongoing military activities in Iran, which Congress has never authorized.

Republicans in both the House and Senate had already rejected separate war powers proposals in early March.

However, Democrats are hoping that the long conflict’s impact on gas prices and the stock market will eventually persuade enough Republicans to join them in curbing Trump’s power at this point.

FISA Section 702

Congress should also renew a powerful surveillance tool at the National Security Agency that expires on April 20.

But lawmakers from all political parties are deeply divided over whether they should reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to better protect Americans’ privacy rights.

On paper, FISA Section 702 allows federal intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on suspected foreign nationals.

However, in practice, American citizens’ electronic data – including emails, text messages, and phone calls – is also routinely collected.

Not only can intelligence agencies store that data for up to five years, but intelligence agents can routinely search that data without obtaining a warrant, a practice known as a “backdoor search.”

Some lawmakers, particularly Republicans, are concerned that it violates Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.

However, House Republican leadership already plans to vote Wednesday to extend Section 702 without enacting any reforms or privacy protections.

Save America Act

Republicans are also fighting to pass their voter-ID bill in the Senate, which would restart their marathon debate over legislation called the Save America Act.

The most ardent supporters of the House-passed legislation — which would, among other things, require Americans to present proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote — argue that the bill is crucial for congressional Republicans to maintain their majority in the midterm elections.

Although Trump has urged Republican Senate leaders to eliminate the filibuster so the bill can pass with only a majority vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Says there isn’t enough support in the caucus for such drastic action.

Reprinted with permission from Center Square.

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