A group of Republican senators is pitching President Donald Trump on a plan to fund part of the currently shutdown Department of Homeland Security, while allowing for a future party-line budget bill to cover deportations later.
Republicans already acceded to Democrat demands in February, when they agreed to separate the DHS funding bill from a package of bills funding other federal agencies.
But does this approach have a chance of ending a five-week shutdown? It’s not clear yet, but key Republican stakeholders appear to be signing on in support.
On Monday evening, Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Steve Daines of Montana, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina met with Trump in the White House, where they workshopped a potential deal to reopen DHS.
The agency has been shut down since Feb. 14, as Democrats have repeatedly blocked funding bills while demanding restraints on immigration law enforcement. The funding cutoff has strained airport security, causing travel delays across the country.
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who was not at the meeting, described it as a “very positive, productive meeting” based on the information he had received.
The next day, he said he had sent an offer to Democrats “to fund 94% of the DHS budget,” while leaving out new funding for deportations. Another budget reconciliation bill could be used if necessary to provide additional funding.
Budget reconciliation allows for Congress to enact major changes to fiscal policy and can be passed with a simple majority in the Senate.
Thune said the Republicans who spoke with Trump “made a compelling case and argument for why this is a big win,” and argued to him that another reconciliation bill could fund deportations and help force a requirement of photo identification in elections.
Trump has demanded that any deal with Democrats involve passage of the SAVE America Act, which would require photo ID and proof of citizenship in federal elections.
Republicans would face challenges in attempting to change election policy through reconciliation, since the process’ rules exclude provisions which are more policy-oriented than budgetary.
Pushback
One Republican senator expressed dissatisfaction with the news of a proposal leaving out new deportation funding.
“We shouldn’t be giving Democrats an inch for their insane hostage-taking at Homeland Security,” the senator said in a statement to The Daily Signal.
On talks to incorporate elements of the SAVE America Act into reconciliation, the senator declared, “We shouldn’t accept ‘we’ll do it later in reconciliation’ as an excuse for failure to pass voter ID, which is before the Senate right now and is supported by 83% of Americans.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., similarly came out as critic of the proposal on Tuesday.
“This doesn’t make any sense with me,” he said. “Democrats shut down the government because they want to give amnesty to illegals. I don’t agree with that. They don’t want to fund the part that protects Americans from illegal aliens committing crimes?”
The proposal also might hit speedbumps in the House, where the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus has already released a harshly critical statement calling it “a total failure,” which hands “a victory to the open-borders amnesty crowd.”
A Republican Senate staffer, however, told The Daily Signal the proposal is an example of Republicans “having to be the ones getting stuff done here,” and that it appears to have momentum.
The Next Big, Beautiful Bill
House Republicans have been talking for months about another party line reconciliation bill to advance conservative budgetary policy and their “affordability” agenda.
The Senate’s discussions with Trump might provide momentum for that push.
At their March retreat in Doral, Florida, House Republicans attempted to find consensus on goals for a potential second reconciliation bill.
Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that there could be renewed interest in reconciliation due to the Senate’s maneuvering.
“Keeping that vehicle alive turned out to be quite a bit more relevant right now,” Moore told The Daily Signal.
Moore is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which leads the charge in funding federal agencies each year.
Republicans used reconciliation to bypass this bipartisan process and inject funding into border security and defense in July 2025 with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
One difficulty of using reconciliation to fund agencies is that it does not allow for legislative provisions to provide direction on how exactly the agency must spend the money.
Moore acknowledged to The Daily Signal that reconciliation is imperfect, especially when it comes to defense. The Pentagon has been readying a multibillion-dollar supplemental funding request for the war in Iran.
“I have more cause for pause and hesitation putting defense money into reconciliation,” Moore told The Daily Signal. “Because that has been extraordinarily slow to get put onto contract and the money through that process is not being obligated as quickly as we thought.”
Tuesday afternoon, in response to a question from The Daily Signal, the White House appeared to give its approval to the reconciliation plan.
At his Oval Office swearing in, new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the “Trump administration wants to use reconciliation to fund ICE.”
“We’ll see about reconciliation,” the president added. “We’re certainly talking about reconciliation.”
This story has been updated to reflect the comments of President Trump and DHS Secretary Mullin.
