GOP lawmakers plan to fund Homeland Security sans Democrats

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday said they would go it alone and fund the Department of Homeland Security after a two-month standoff with Democratic Party members in the House and the Senate. Votes planned for Tuesday evening would set up a process for budget reconciliation, a multiphase action that would likely require almost all Republican votes in both chambers but would allow the measure to pass on a majority vote. 

The plan to end a partial government shutdown calls for fully funding DHS for three years, or through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s time in office, said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. The plan would include the DHS bureaus of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol.

What’s the funding holdup? Democratic lawmakers have stood against the Trump administration’s border policy and immigration enforcement operations in U.S. cities, including a federal crackdown in Minneapolis that prompted deadly riots. Other Democratic priorities include extensions for financial boosts to Medicaid funding and a reluctance to bankroll the Trump administration’s war with Iran. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer blamed the shutdown on Republicans, writing on social media that the Senate GOP refused to pass funding for DHS repeatedly. The House GOP earlier voted down Senate-approved legislation to partially fund DHS, a bill Johnson had called a joke.

Since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, DHS has been without funding authorization more than it has had it, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. Thune said negotiations around immigration reform proved fruitless, with Democrats remaining unsatisfied by Republican concessions. 

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report on the House’s rejection of a Senate funding deal.