Senators approved a compromise measure early Friday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security through the end of September, taking a major step toward ending the 42-day partial shutdown that has seen hundreds of airport security workers quit after missing paychecks and snarled travel nationwide. The agreement, passed by voice vote before senators departed Washington for a two-week recess for Easter and Passover, will be considered by the House later Friday morning.
The last-ditch deal does not include any of the demands Democrats have placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — including that agents be barred from wearing masks and operate under tougher warrant requirements to detain illegal migrants.
The bill does not provide funding for ICE or Border Patrol, but those subagencies already received billions of dollars under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump this past July and immigration enforcement has gone on uninterrupted by the shutdown.
Nevertheless, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) proclaimed that Democrats had “held the line.”
“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,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) 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.”
“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” he added.