There is some relief for TSA agents who haven’t been paid in weeks, as President Trump authorized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to use funds from last year’s tax cut bill to cover their salaries. The civilian support staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol will have to wait another two weeks for their salaries.
The DHS shutdown continues as the House rejected the Senate’s midnight funding measure, which it had passed by voice vote before leaving D.C. This move outraged House Republicans, who weren’t consulted, and put them in a procedural bind. The Senate’s bill funded DHS, except for ICE and Border Patrol, and promised more money, but offered none of the reforms Democrats want in a future reconciliation package. House conservatives believed fully funding DHS was crucial, and it is part of the 12 key appropriations bills passed each year.
The House opted to pass a 60-day continuing resolution on a 213-203 vote, though it faces certain death in the Senate. Republicans need more than half a dozen Democrats to break ranks. That’s not going to happen. Now, both chambers have recessed:
From colleague Tyler Olson. The House just passed the GOP leadership's 60-day DHS CR by a vote of 213-203.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 28, 2026
3 Dem yeas were Reps. Davis (NC), Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) and Cuellar (TX). All Republicans voted yes
This is almost certain to be blocked in the Senate, leading the DHS…
BREAKING: House passes 60-day DHS funding bill.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) March 28, 2026
To become law it needs 60 Senate votes, so 7 Democrats*.
It does not have that.
But both chambers are leaving - it seems - for two weeks.
*Yes, in theory Senate GOP could go nuclear and change the filibuster - but the votes… https://t.co/T6KswLMIRh
"Democrats manufactured this shutdown from the start, leaving ICE and CBP officers and civilian personnel forced to work without pay while they play political games with the lives of American families. House Republicans will not cave to the radical Left's demands to defund the men and women standing between our nation and chaos," said Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger in a statement. "Instead, we passed a legislative solution that would fully fund the Department of Homeland Security and truly restore order. The Senate must return to Washington immediately, pass this bill, and send it to the president's desk."
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Yet, the ending of this bout was a mess: the Senate GOP funded a compromise measure, which House Republicans didn’t like, skipped town, and now the House voted for something that has no hope in the Senate.
Sure, the GOP ‘won’ since none of the reforms for ICE were agreed upon—de-masking and judicial warrants—but the agency remains closed. And now, intraparty antics are going to headline this story, all because the Senate wanted to go home.
Editor’s Note: Democrats are causing chaos at airports and inflicting pain on the American people simply because they want to keep illegal aliens from being deported.
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