US Congress passes bill to resume funding for DHS and end partial shutdown

The adoption of the bill, which did not include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP), by a voice vote on Thursday ended an 11-week partial government shutdown.

Although the two agencies have ample funding through previously approved laws, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson initially opposed the measure for excluding them.

But he eventually brought the proposal to a vote after Trump voiced support for it.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin welcomed the passage of the bill on Thursday and blamed Democrats for the shutdown.

“To be clear, this Democrat shutdown NEVER should have happened,” Mullin wrote on X.

“To our great, patriotic employees who have continued to protect the homeland every single day without a guaranteed paycheck—thank you. President Trump and I are very grateful to be in the fight with you to Make America Safe Again.”

The partial shutdown had left several departments within DHS operating on fumes, leading to long lines at airports where many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents reported to work unpaid.

The shutdown has also raised concerns about possible disruption to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which responds to natural disasters and is part of DHS.

“This is welcome news,” Democratic congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said of the passage of the bill.

“I’m glad that we are now funding the law-abiding agencies within DHS, like TSA and FEMA. Now Congress needs to work on reining in ICE and CBP and holding them to the same standard to which every cop in America is held.”

The impasse was spurred, in part, by the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which resulted in the killing of two US citizens in January.

On February 4, Democratic leaders in Congress issued a list of demands to reform ICE.

The conditions included banning ICE agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities, prohibiting racial profiling and ending immigration raids on “sensitive locations” like schools and churches.

Without such “common sense reforms”, the Democrats threatened to withhold their votes from any funding legislation for DHS.

Republicans rejected the Democrats’ demands, calling them unreasonable.

Republicans control both the Senate and the House. But a legislative rule in the Senate, known as the filibuster, requires lawmakers to reach a 60-vote threshold to pass major legislation.

The DHS shutdown started on February 14.

The Senate passed a DHS funding bill that left out ICE as a compromise in March, but the proposal was held up by Johnson for more than a month.

Now, Republican senators are trying to ensure funding for ICE and DHS through a complex budget process known as reconciliation, which can overcome the filibuster.

Trump has been calling on his party to get rid of the filibuster altogether – a risky manoeuvre that could benefit Democrats if they regain control of the Senate.

The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to approve and allocate money for the federal government. When lawmakers fail to pass budget bills, funding lapses, and the government goes into shutdown, which often leads to disruptions in services and employees going without pay.

In recent years, both Republicans and Democrats have used government funding and shutdowns as pressure tools to get concessions from the opposing party.