DHS shutdown – The House voted to reopen most of the Department of Homeland Security, ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The House of Representatives voted Thursday to reopen most of the Department of Homeland Security, ending what was described as the longest agency shutdown in U.S. history.
The bill approved by the House would fund DHS while excluding funding for parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The measure passed by voice vote on the 76th day of the shutdown.
Democrats voted against the approach, refusing to provide funding for many immigration-related functions as part of the bill.. Their opposition centered on an effort to push for reforms that included body-worn cameras and broader restrictions on face coverings.. Democrats linked the demand to concerns raised after federal law enforcement killed two American citizens in Minnesota earlier this year.
In March, the Senate advanced the funding legislation unanimously.. Republican Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., led that push.. At the time. Speaker Mike Johnson. R-La.. characterized the proposal as “a joke” and declined to bring it to a vote. according to the account described in the report.. Many House Republicans had also opposed funding DHS in segments and did not want to negotiate over changes tied to immigration enforcement operations.
Johnson later shifted course. On April 1, he said the funding bill would be voted on “in the coming days.” More than four weeks passed before the House took action.
Report details say Johnson delayed bringing the Senate’s proposal to a House vote until Republicans in the Senate began a procedural process referred to as reconciliation. The goal was to fund all of DHS, including ICE and CBP for the remainder of President Trump’s term, without Democratic backing.
The measure arrives amid warnings from the department’s top officials about the agency’s financial runway.. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said DHS was near running out of funds needed to pay staff. describing the department as having reached emergency funding limits and having no remaining “slush fund.” Mullin said the department was relying on appropriated funds from last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill. ” which allocated more than $150 billion to DHS in addition to regular annual appropriations.
The report also notes that President Trump signed a memo this month authorizing DHS to use some of the funds from the earlier legislation to support departmental operations.. That step was described as potentially raising constitutional questions about Congress’s authority to direct how taxpayer money is spent.
With Thursday’s vote, most of DHS funding would restart, bringing an end to a shutdown that reached record length. The specific funding carve-outs for ICE and CBP, along with the broader dispute over immigration-related reforms, remain central to how lawmakers portray the outcome.