WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved a Senate-passed bill that would fund much of the Homeland Security Department, ending the record 75-day shutdown of the sprawling federal agency.
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President Donald Trump had urged lawmakers to pass the bill and vowed to sign it into law.
The bill will reopen DHS without providing new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Border Patrol, as Democrats demand changes to immigration enforcement. Republicans will attempt to fund those agencies separately.
The House’s action came right against a critical deadline. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had warned lawmakers that if they did not pass funding by Thursday, emergency funding would run out and thousands of workers would not be paid.
The successful vote came before House and Senate lawmakers depart for a weeklong recess at the end of Thursday. House and Senate lawmakers still need to make sure a foreign spying program doesn’t expire on Thursday.
Once Trump signs the funding bill, DHS agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service would be funded through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
Democrats had forced a DHS shutdown on Feb. 14, after Republicans rejected their demands to make reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, such as mandating body cameras and limiting raids in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.
In late March, the Senate unanimously approved the legislation to fund most of the DHS agencies, except for ICE and the Border Patrol. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected that plan as “a joke” at the time.
Johnson allowed a vote to move forward on the Senate-passed funding bill after seeing the party’s progress on funding ICE and Border Patrol.
“I think having passed our budget resolution yesterday was a very important step, and we have to absolutely make sure those two critical agencies of immigration enforcement and border are fully funded, and Republicans have to do that on our own,” Johnson told reporters Thursday.
He added: “I’m aware of the deadlines. I’ve been trying to press this as aggressively as anybody. … We’ll get the job done.”
On Wednesday, the House adopted the Senate-passed budget resolution that would create a pathway to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the duration of Trump’s term.
The budget measure instructs congressional committees to draft legislation and authorize $70 billion to pay for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol for roughly the next three years.
Under the budget reconciliation process, Republicans would be able to bypass a Democratic filibuster and pass the legislation through the Senate with just 51 votes. They would not need to make any of the policy changes demanded by Democrats.
The House is still waiting for the Senate to send over a short-term extension of the spy program, known as FISA Section 702. Members of both parties said it would be devastating for national security if authorization for that program expired.
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