Senate votes to fund much of DHS, minus immigration eno : NPR

Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, RS.D. spoke to reporters Tuesday during a press briefing following a weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon at the Capitol.

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Alex Wong/Getty Images North America

The Senate voted overnight to defund large parts of the Department of Homeland Security after a 42-day standoff over immigration control tactics. The bill does not provide funding for the agency’s primary immigration enforcement operations.

The bill now goes to the House for a vote.

The lack of DHS funding has forced tens of thousands of employees to work without pay — or quit — and led to long waits at some airports at the height of spring break travel.

Democrats have refused to support funding for DHS because of their objections to immigration enforcement tactics used by agency agents. Democrats pushed for reform of the agency after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

The latest package allowed Democrats to fund operations such as the Transportation Safety Administration, or TSA, and emergency response divisions, without backing down on those demands.

But some Democrats have warned that any deal would reduce their influence.

The department has been operating without regular appropriations for more than a month. But some divisions, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, continued to operate thanks to the roughly $75 billion provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Others, including TSA, have used workers who are not paid.

Ha Nguyen McNeil, the acting TSA administrator, told lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday that absences were as high as 40% at some airports and that more than 480 TSA agents resigned during the shutdown.

“We are really concerned about our security posture and the long-term impacts of this closure on the workforce and our ability to carry out this mission,” McNeil said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Thursday that House Republicans were not in favor of cutting funding, calling it “shameful” not to fund the agency.

It’s unclear how the House will react to the deal.