The House voted Thursday to pass a bill that would end the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security after more than 70 days.
The House passed legislation ending the shutdown via voice vote, a parliamentary tactic that does not put lawmakers on record in favor or against. The legislation now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it shortly.
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HOUSE GOP ADVANCES $70 BILLION ON ICE AND CBP FUNDING VIA RECONCILIATION
“This will relieve pressure from the Department of Homeland Security,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters after the funding passed. “Secretary Mullin, who I’ve spoken to in the last couple of hours, will be greatly relieved the President, will, the administration, will, we were not going to have lines at TSA, everybody will get their pay checks now.”
The legislation funds every part of the DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its sister agency, Customs and Border Protection. The other two agencies are already funded partially by money appropriated by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) plan to move an additional $70 billion for ICE and CBP through a party-line process known as budget reconciliation by June 1. Reconciliation allows some tax and spending measures to skirt the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. Given Democratic opposition to funding ICE, budget reconciliation was the only path forward.
A handful of House Republicans have been unhappy with the two-track method but ultimately conceded.
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“By getting the budget in process, that gets us comfort to be able to move forward, that was always the issue,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said of the two-track method, adding that if there was a recorded vote, he would have voted “no,” even though they “weren’t going to win.”
Passage by the House comes just in the nick of time. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has publicly warned that the department would run out of emergency funding next week and be unable to pay staff.
Hailey Bullis contributed to this article.
