Lawmakers Fail To End Second Longest Shutdown In History
The Senate failed to end the partial government shutdown Friday as Democrats — for the second time in less than a year — continue to refuse to vote to reopen the government over a political dispute.
The Upper House, plagued by turnout issues, fell short of the 60-vote threshold in a 47-37 vote on the 35th day of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, leaving Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees without pay during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. The vote came during a break in debate over the SAVE America Act that has been ongoing since Tuesday and will continue through the weekend. (RELATED: TSA Calls to End 25-Day ‘Democratic Shutdown’ Now With Airport Lines Out and Terrorist Threats Abound)
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to come out in favor of reopening the government — a position he has maintained since the partial shutdown began. Besides the TSA, the standoff has also shaken other agencies operating under the DHS umbrella, such as the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The rest of Fetterman’s party remained united in voting against funding opportunities for the entire department until the sweeping reforms demanded in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were agreed to. They also happen to be the only two department agencies to be funded due to July’s passage of the GOP-backed One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Senate Republicans gave Democrats more than a dozen opportunities to defund the TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and federal law enforcement, and they rejected them every time.
Free the hostage. Fund DHS. Give a paycheck to those employees who are working without pay. https://t.co/GE0UBLMWTF
– Ryan Wrasse (@RWrasse) March 20, 2026
The DHS shutdown timeline is second only to the government’s fall 2025 shutdown, which left the House of Representatives closed and federal employees without paychecks for a record 43 days. Democrats refused to vote on expanding Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which they did not get.
North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House has made “serious offers” in response to Democrats’ demands, and that progress has been made in bipartisan talks with border czar Tom Homan, which began Thursday.
“[Homan] has a lot of credibility. He’s done a very good job in Minneapolis, in St. Paul, and obviously there have been changes within DHS at the leadership level,” Hoeven told DCNF. “If [Democrats] decide to leave, they abandon things that are common sense. And I think people see that, and with these TSA lines, I think it puts more pressure than it needs to.
However, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy, who was not participating in the meetings, told DCNF that negotiations with DHS remained stalled.
“It is clear to me that because of their policies and their party officials, Democrats will never agree to any reasonable change regarding ICE because their base will interpret any type of agreement, reasonable or not, as a vote to defund ICE,” he said Friday.
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