House of Representatives pass DHS funding bill after rejecting Senate’s
The House of Representatives passed a stop-gap bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security for eight weeks on Friday night, after rejecting a different deal senators passed hours before.
Democrats in the Senate, however, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., previously said this legislation wouldn’t pass their chamber.
Lawmakers largely voted along party lines, with 213 House Republicans in favor and 203 Democrats against it. Three Democrats voted to pass the legislation.
At the center of the partial government shutdown are new guardrails for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Democrats say they won’t pass a DHS funding bill without them, especially after the killings of multiple people by ICE agents.
Republicans, on the other hand, have resisted such guidelines for ICE, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said the GOP is “not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” according to The Washington Post.
Neither the Senate nor the House’s bills address Democrats’ asks for ICE.
Funding lapse fallout
Because of the shutdown, Transportation Security Administration workers aren’t getting paid, causing hundreds to quit and thousands to call out from work. Friday marked a full month TSA workers have gone without pay.
This staffing shortage has backed up airport security lines, forcing travelers to either arrive hours before their flights or miss them.
Prior to Friday’s House vote, President Donald Trump signed an emergency memorandum on Friday directing newly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to shift funds toward TSA agents who have gone unpaid since February. The order also instructs agents to be paid wages for the weeks they’ve worked since the shutdown began.
TSA agent salaries are expected to hit bank accounts as early as Monday, per DHS.
“TSA officers are now losing their homes and cars, struggling to put food on the table, and are experiencing all-around financial catastrophe because of this extended shutdown, the 3rd they’ve experienced in just 6 months,” the department said in a post to X.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
