After the House rejected the Senate’s attempt to partially fund the Department of Homeland Security, Congress is at a loss for how to resolve the ongoing shutdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday pushed Congress to work expeditiously to fund the department.
“It is the job of Congress to fund these agencies,” said Leavitt. “Congress should come back, and they should get it done.”
Early Friday morning, the Senate passed a homeland security funding bill that excluded Immigration and Customs Enforcement and most of Customs and Border Protection, two agencies for which Democrats demanded additional restraints on immigration enforcement agents. Senators abruptly left Washington for a two-week recess.
The dead-of-the-night deal infuriated House Republicans, who saw it as an act of surrender to Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., appeared to frame it that way, writing in a Friday statement, “Republicans caved to our demands to fund DHS without a blank check for ICE and CBP.”
Late Friday night, the House rejected the Senate bill in favor of a 60-day funding extension for the department, passing it by a 213-203 margin.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., called on the Senate to pass the House bill by unanimous consent at the chamber’s scheduled Monday pro forma session—a perfunctory meeting where no legislative business is typically conducted.
But on Monday, no Republican senator attempted to pass the House framework.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., did join House Republicans in calling on the Senate to pass the 60-day extension.
“Time for a 60-day CR to work on a new deal,” wrote Graham on X. “Threats to our country are through the roof, and it’s well past time to pay all workers.”
Graham’s stance could provide some momentum for the push to fund all of the agency rather than pursue a piecemeal approach. However, Republicans will still need to gather at least seven Democrat votes to advance a funding extension, which itself would only prolong a multi-week funding battle.
Since the House rejected the Senate bill, some Democrats attempted to paint Republicans as the obstructionists in the funding impasse.
Speaking of the Senate’s bipartisan funding bill, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Sunday on ABC News, “The Republican speaker of the House refused to even have a vote on that in the House and went home as we have these big lines at airports.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., similarly quipped on X, “There is a bipartisan bill to end the chaos at airports. House Republicans rejected it and left town on vacation. Bring the House back. End the GOP shutdown.”
The Senate is scheduled to reconvene for legislative business on April 13. The next pro forma session will be on Thursday, April 2.
