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

Senators passed a last-ditch Homeland Security funding bill early Friday, moving one step closer to ending the 42-day partial shutdown that has sparked major travel chaos at airports across the US. The last-ditch deal, struck before lawmakers headed off for spring break, will see most of the Department of Homeland Security reopened, but contains no funding provisions for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Democrats are framing the outcome as a win, but their demands for ICE agents to be unmasked were notably absent from the bill. “In the 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 reporters on March 24, 2026. Getty Images Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said the bill 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 some 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.” It was the seventh time Democrats had blocked bills to end the shutdown. “Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post . “I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin , to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports . It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!,” he wrote. Trump warned about the possibility of having to take “drastic measures” during a Thursday morning cabinet meeting if the stalemate on Capitol Hill didn’t end. Almost 500 security officers have quit during the partial shutdown, and more than 11% of employees called out Wednesday. ICE agents have been deployed to airports across the US – and have been checking travelers’ IDs and managing crowds, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told CNN  last Sunday that immigration agents are not trained to carry out specialized security screenings. He explained the purpose of ICE being stationed at airports was to help free TSA staffers who had clocked in for shifts. TSA wait times have varied across the country. Travelers heading out of Houston airport were warned Thursday they could face wait times of four hours or more, KPRC reported. This is because the city’s set to see more visitors heading into town for the premier energy conference CERAWeek and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But, wait times at airports that use private contractors for security are just minutes – with travelers not really feeling the effects of the shutdown. The average wait time at Sarasota airport, Florida, was just three minutes and almost 300,000 travelers were screened over the past 30 days, the New York Times reported . Wait times at Kansas City and San Francisco airports have largely been kept under 10 minutes. With Post wires