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House GOP leaders have a tough task ahead in passing a two-step plan to end the record-setting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown as their members call for passage of a Republican-only bill to fund immigration enforcement before they accept a bipartisan Senate bill to fund the rest of the department.<\/p>\n
House Republicans are feeling whiplash, and on a closed conference call Thursday they fumed over pressure to pass the Senate bill. That measure, which has already passed the upper chamber via unanimous consent, would fund the bulk of DHS outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, leaving funding for those agencies in a GOP-only reconciliation bill to pass by June 1. Democrats have refused to vote for ICE and Border Patrol funding unless they get significant reforms to immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week slammed the Senate bill as a \u201cjoke,\u201d and the House GOP responded by passing a stopgap measure to fund the department for eight weeks. But with the stopgap unable to overcome a Senate filibuster, Johnson joined with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and President Trump to\u00a0publicly back the two-step plan<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n Republicans, including some well beyond the usual leadership antagonists in the House Freedom Caucus, said on the Thursday conference call that they would not vote for the Senate bill to fund the bulk of DHS until Congress passes a budget reconciliation bill that includes funding for ICE and Border Patrol, sources told The Hill.<\/p>\n Members want to see assurances that an immigration enforcement and border security bill that can pass through the special budget reconciliation process \u2014 which bypasses the Senate\u2019s 60-vote threshold and the need for support from Democrats \u2014 will come to fruition.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no desire to pass the Senate open borders bill and then hope that we get a reconciliation bill that would close the border. They\u2019ve got to come together,\u201d Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) told The Hill. \u201cWe have the Senate open borders bill. Now, they\u2019ve got to send over the one that will keep the border closed.\u201d<\/p>\n That pushback means House GOP leaders might not have the votes to pass the Senate DHS bill. Going through a normal process would require near-unanimous support from Republicans for a procedural rule vote.<\/p>\n The other option, an expedited suspension of the rules process, would require support from two-thirds of the House. While Democratic leaders are supportive of the Senate bill, it is not clear enough Republicans would support it to meet that threshold. And politically, GOP leaders are wary of the \u201cHastert rule,\u201d a practice that calls for not bringing up any bill that cannot get support from a majority of Republicans.<\/p>\n Some conservatives stated that position and\u00a0aired their frustrations publicly<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again. If that\u2019s the vote, I\u2019m a NO,\u201d Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former Freedom Caucus chair, wrote on the social platform X on Wednesday.<\/p>\n If frustrated Republicans block quick passage of the Senate bill or GOP leaders agree to wait for a reconciliation bill, it could be weeks or months before critical agencies in DHS are funded.<\/p>\n The Senate bill to fund the bulk of DHS \u2014 including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Coast Guard, and Federal Emergency Management Agency \u2014 is\u00a0back in the House\u2019s court<\/a>, as the bill passed again by unanimous consent in the Senate early Thursday morning. The House did not attempt to pass the bill in a pro forma session shortly after that on Thursday.<\/p>\n Both chambers are out on recess until the week of April 13, with some members traveling internationally. GOP leaders indicated on the call that there is not a plan to bring the House back early to pass the Senate bill, a source said.<\/p>\n Trump relieved some of the pressure to pass immediate DHS funding with his announcement on Thursday that he would\u00a0sign a measure to pay all DHS employees<\/a>. He had previously signed an order to pay all TSA officers, and Border Patrol and ICE personnel have also been receiving pay during the shutdown.<\/p>\n DHS funding won\u2019t be the only headache for GOP leaders when they do return. Republican leaders are also trying to pass a clean extension of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act spy powers before the current authorization expires on April 20. House GOP leaders have already once delayed plans<\/a> to pass the reauthorization because of pushback from hard-liners seeking reforms to the program or unrelated voting reforms as part of the bill.<\/p>\n The pressure from House Republicans to hold up the Senate bill could affect the scope of a second reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol.<\/p>\n Johnson and Thune in a statement on Wednesday pointed out that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee,\u00a0in March announced<\/a>\u00a0his panel would start moving on a reconciliation bill to fund ICE removal operations, enact elements of voting reform legislation and fund the war in Iran.\u00a0Other Republicans<\/a>, mostly in the House, have called to use a reconciliation bill to address fraud in federal programs and cut spending.<\/p>\n But Thune indicated Thursday that an ICE and Border Patrol reconciliation bill might not include other priorities in order to move it more quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody is, I think, singularly focused \u2026 around the things we have to do on the border, on ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection],\u201d Thune told reporters. \u201cThe other things implicate other committees and create jurisdictional challenges and germane issues on the floor. Our theory of the case behind all this was to keep that thing as narrow and focused as possible, and that maximizes, I think, the speed at which we can do it and the support for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Reconciliation can be used once per fiscal year, meaning Republicans could theoretically use the process two more times this year.<\/p>\n Sudiksha Kochi contributed.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n