DHS shutdown breakthrough comes at cost for Republicans as funding fights nears end

Congress isSenators passed a last-ditch Homeland Security funding bill early Friday, moving one step closer to ending the Homeland Security42-day partial shutdown afterthat has sparked major travel chaos at airports across the Senate advanced a new,US. The last-minuteditch deal, but it came at the price of Republicans ceding groundstruck before lawmakers headed off for spring break, temporarily, to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The Senate unanimously advanced a deal to reopen will see most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wee hours of Friday morningreopened, 42 days into the shutdown that was spurred by the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Minnesota. It was an agreement that largely gave Schumer and Senate Democrats what they wanted —but contains no funding provisions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But it lacked Democrats are framing the stringent reforms they desiredoutcome as a win, like requiring judicial warrants or requiringbut their demands for ICE agents to unmaskbe unmasked were notably absent from the bill. While  “In the deal mirrors previous attempts by wake of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Democrats were clear: No blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said.  “We held the line.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to pass similar legislation that carved out immigration fundingreporters on March 24, 2026. Getty Images Senate Majority Leader John Thune argued that Democrats are still walking away empty, R-handed inSouth Dakota, said the policybill was “not the way to fund the department. But, we were out of time.” “The Dems wanted reforms,” Thune said, according to Politico. “We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms but, you know, we’re going to have to fight over immigration enforcementsome of those battles another day.” The bill still has to make its way to the House of Representatives and be signed by President Trump before it becomes law. However, it’s one step closer to ending the shutdown, which has seen Transportation Security Administration workers go without pay.  Senate Democrats blocked a bid to end the partial shutdown earlier Thursday before President Trump vowed TSA agents would get paid as he promised an emergency order to relieve airport congestion. “We’ve been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing,” Thune said. “And, I mean, in the end, this is what they were willing to agree to. But again, it’s different that it has zero reforms in it. I mean, they got no reforms on DHS, which they could have had if they had been willing to work with us a little bit on that.” The DHS funding deal now headsIt was the seventh time Democrats had blocked bills to end the House, where Republicans aren’t enthusiastic about not funding key components of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown agendashutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters on March 24, 2026. Getty Images The latest plan came after Senate“Because the Democrats blockedhave recklessly created a seventh attempt to reopen DHStrue National Crisis, after back-and-forth talks throughoutI am using my authorities under the day on Thursday appearedLaw to yield little progress towardprotect our Great Country, as I always will do!” Trump wrote in a resolutionlengthy Truth Social post. Trump also announced his intent “I am going to sign an order that would pay TransportationOrder instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security Administration (, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA) agents as major airports are rocked with staggering lines Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and eye-popping wait times amidto quickly stop the shutdownDemocrat Chaos at the Airports. While a further concession It is not an easy thing to Democratsdo, in part, the underlying argument Republicans have made all along is that if Schumer and his caucus wanted reforms, they would havebut I am going to agree to fund immigration enforcementdo it!,” he wrote. And ICE and CBP are still flush with roughly $75 billion in cash from Trump’s warned about the possibility of having to take “big, beautiful bill,drastic measures” giving the agenciesduring a buffer for a timeThursday morning cabinet meeting if the stalemate on Capitol Hill didn’t end. “The good news is we anticipated this a year ago. I mean  Almost 500 security officers have quit during the partial shutdown, oneand more than 11% of employees called out Wednesday. ICE agents have been deployed to airports across the reasons we front loadedUS – and have been checking travelers’ IDs and managing crowds, pre-loaded upaccording to the ‘one big, beautiful bill’ with advanced funding forDepartment of Homeland Security was because we anticipated this was likely going to happen, and it did,” Thune said. “I still think it Trump’s unfortunate. The Dems wanted reforms. We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms.” The same process used to passborder czar Tom Homan told CNN last Sunday that colossal legislative package will likely be turned to again fund immigration enforcement. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., envisions funding ICE and CBP for several years. “Democratsagents are tryingnot trained to shut downcarry out specialized security screenings. He explained the purpose of ICE fundingbeing stationed at airports was to help free TSA staffers who had clocked in for shifts. TSA wait times have varied across the remaindercountry.  Travelers heading out of the fiscal year — ultimatelyHouston airport were warned Thursday they won’t be successfulcould face wait times of four hours or more,” Schmitt said on X KPRC reported. “In response, I This is because the city’ll be pushings set to lock in fundingsee more visitors heading into town for deportation operations the premier energy conference CERAWeek and salaries for a decadethe NCAA men’s basketball tournament.” Doing so could be difficult But, still, givenwait times at airports that Republicans want to dump several other priorities intouse private contractors for security are just minutes – with travelers not really feeling the mix, including portionseffects of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act and funding for the Iran warshutdown. And some Republicans are already couching expectations on what canThe average wait time at Sarasota airport, Florida, was just three minutes and can’t be accomplished inalmost 300,000 travelers were screened over the party-line processpast 30 days, given that anything in the bill has to pass muster with strict rules in the Senate New York Times reported. “I think weWait times at Kansas City and San Francisco airports have to set our sights a little bit lower on this reconciliation bill,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. “It’s got to be targeted to fund ICE forlargely been kept under 10 years, I think that’s the number one thing to usminutes.” With Post wires