ABC News

House passes bill to fully fund DHS through May 22; top Democrat says 'dead on arrival' in Senate

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 08:45:03 -0400

The partial shutdown, now in its 42nd day, is likely to continue. The House voted Friday to approve a short-term bill to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security for eight weeks, sending the measure back to the Senate, where the top Democrat says it is "dead on arrival." The House vote late Friday was 213-203. Three Democrats crossed party lines to vote in favor: Reps. Henry Cuellar, of Texas; Don Davis, of North Carolina; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, of Washington. There are not currently plans for the Senate to return from its scheduled two-week recess to address the ongoing DHS shutdown, a GOP aide confirmed to ABC News. The ongoing Capitol Hill impasse means the partial shutdown is expected to drag on as lawmakers fight over a path forward. The House vote to extend funding for all of DHS through May 22 came several hours after the Senate approved a bill early Friday morning to fund most of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Ahead of the House vote, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had vowed that the House bill would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate, meaning Democrats will not provide enough support to reach a 60-vote threshold. Senators have left town for a two-week recess and are not planning to return until Monday, April 13. House members are also leaving to depart for the two-week holiday break and are not planning to return until Tuesday, April 14. Earlier Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leaders rejected the Senate-passed DHS bill. "This gambit that was done last night is a joke," Johnson told reporters in a news conference on Friday. Amid the gridlock on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump on Friday signed a presidential memorandum directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA employees. DHS said that workers will start seeing paychecks on Monday. President Trump, in a phone interview with Fox News on Friday afternoon, said the Senate deal on DHS "wasn't good" and "wasn't appropriate." The Senate, at 2 a.m. on Friday morning, approved a funding bill that included TSA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The package did not include money for ICE or parts of CBP, though those agencies continue to receive funds due to an influx of cash provided in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress last summer. Also absent from the Senate bill are any of the reforms to ICE's operating procedures that Democrats have been repeatedly demanding following the fatal shootings of two American citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents earlier this year. Still, Schumer said he was proud of Democrats who "held the line" on their objection to funding ICE and CBP without reforms.