Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday agreed during a meeting with the House Freedom Caucus to pass a 60-day stop-gap spending bill that funds all of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), unlike the Senate-passed package.
It appears that Congress’s lower chamber will not take up the Senate-passed funding bill, which was passed in the early hours of Friday morning. House conservatives balked at the prospect of passing the Senate-passed spending package, which does not fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agencies.
WATCH — TSA & FEMA Representatives Testify on Impact of DHS Shutdown:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has signaled that Republicans would likely address funding for those agencies through reconciliation, which would only need 51 votes in the Senate to pass.
The Freedom Caucus said they would not support funding DHS unless provisions to enact voter ID verification, fund border patrol, and investigate child sex trafficking are included.
“It’s not going to affect the airports if we don’t do this today,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) said Friday. He argued that the Senate could easily pass a revised House bill when it returns next week for a pro forma section. The Senate left for a two-week recess after it passed its Friday morning DHS funding bill.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said, “The Senate bill is a non-starter. We’ll send something back to stand with @CBP & @ICEgov — perhaps other important provisions. But we’re not accepting the garbage from the Senate.”
After the Senate passed its spending bill on Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claimed that “Republicans caved to our demands to fund DHS without a blank check for ICE and CBP.”
“Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight those reforms,” Schumer said. “Through it all, Senate Democrats stood united — no wavering, no backing down. We held the line.”
Thune countered:
Let’s summarize where we are after a 40+ day Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. 1) ICE and CBP are funded, thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts and the foresight of President Trump and Republicans in Congress. 2) After holding DHS and the American people hostage for over 40 days, Dems got ZERO restrictions that would prevent ICE and CBP agents from doing their jobs safely. 3) Due to Dem obstruction of the appropriations process, ICE and CBP will get even more funding through budget reconciliation. 4) Dems have once again established themselves as the “Open Borders, Defund the Police” party heading into an election.
He added, “Dem leadership has proven once again they can’t be trusted to make a deal. Which begs the question if you’re a Dem senator or one of their left-wing supporters: What was this really all about?”
