The Senate early Friday passed a partial Department of Homeland Security funding bill, as Republicans caved to Democrats’ refusal to fund ICE and border patrol. The measure now heads to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has expressed opposition to breaking up DHS funding and could struggle to secure GOP support. He has already announced that it won’t pass.
The Senate left for its Easter holiday after caving. They think they can fund ICE and CBP through reconciliation, but that process has not been terribly effective.
GOP leaders could not get the support of all 100 senators to pass the measure by unanimous consent, but no senator showed up to demand a roll call vote.
As the parties remained in a stalemate all day, President Trump announced an executive order to pay Transportation Security Administration agents. Airports have been experiencing record-long security line wait times because many TSA agents have quit or called out during the shutdown.
Mr. Thune then reversed course on the “last and final” offer with a new bill that cut even more from the department’s budget than the $5.5 billion for immigration enforcement that the GOP’s previous offer removed.
The GOP already fought that battle and won the funding in the Big Beautiful Bill. Now, they have to fight for it under the reconciliation process.
The new bill fully funds eight of the 10 agencies under DHS, including TSA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, and Secret Service.
It excludes money for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and much of Customs and Border Protection. For the latter, the agency’s customs functions are funded, but border patrol operations are not.
Democrats did not get any of the immigration enforcement policy demands they began pushing after the second death of an American citizen in Minneapolis early this year. So that’s good, but now we’re not paying the officers to round them up.
Republicans effectively caved to far-left Democrats, who repeatedly pushed to fund all of DHS, except for ICE and CBP, while lawmakers continued to negotiate their disputes over the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Radical Democrats got their precedent.
Reconciliation only needs 51 votes, but some of the Senate Republicans are really Democrats. RINOs are Democrats. We can’t get anything done in our Senate because of the filibuster, the Blue Slip, and the RINOs.
They gave Democrats a new talking point.
The less radical Democrats were starting to weaken, and the Republicans threw them a lifeline and a talking point. Schumer can now say Republicans could have done this weeks ago. It’s the Republicans’ fault.
“This could’ve been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn’t stood in the way,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said. “Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not.”
“Congressional Democrats have done real damage to the appropriations process by repeatedly forcing government shutdowns and refusing to fund entire agencies,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said. “Their refusal to fund ICE and Border Patrol leaves our borders and our country less secure and sets a precedent that they may one day come to regret.”
Radical Democrats won’t regret it. They opened our borders to get votes. That is all they care about.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat appropriator, said it was important for her party to stand its ground on behalf of the American people.
“We have rejected the ridiculous false choice that the only way to prevent chaos at our airports is by cutting another blank check for President Trump and Stephen Miller,” she said. “Speaking up matters. We’ve got to keep fighting and demanding the accountability the American people deserve.”
All Patty Murphy wants is to keep all these illegal aliens in the country for votes. They don’t care if they are criminals. They have set up sanctuaries for them throughout the nation. These same people won’t allow voter ID for the same reason.
In the end, if the House passes it, it could potentially work.
🚨BREAKING: Senate passes DHS funding bill without additional funds for ICE nor major reforms for ICE. The bill now goes to the House where Republicans have signaled they’ll add in voter ID measures. Meanwhile, President Trump to sign EO funding TSA today.pic.twitter.com/fZCCwc9TpD
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 27, 2026