WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives voted late Friday to fund the Department of Homeland Security for 60 days, rejecting a compromise the Senate passed earlier in the day.
The vote was largely along party lines, with three Democrats crossing the aisle to fully fund the department through May 22. The final tally was 213—203.
The vote was a rebuke of the Senate, which early Friday morning passed a bill that carved ICE and Border Patrol out from the rest of the funding. While House Democrats fought to take up the Senate’s proposal, the measure seemed dead on arrival after President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the measure.
“You can’t have a bill that’s not going to fund any form of law enforcement,” Trump said Friday. “This whole thing is about the Democrats wanting to have open borders, no ICE, no Border Patrol. These people are crazy.”
Trump’s comments came after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other House Republicans trashed the Senate proposal and the subsequent departure of senators for a two-week Easter recess.
“They’ve gone half the fiscal year without a regular paycheck; we cannot ask that of anyone,” Johnson said in reference to TSA agents, who have dealt with the brunt of both the full federal government shutdown last fall and the current shutdown. “Republicans will do the responsible and honorable thing, and Democrats will continue to play politics.”
Trump signed an executive order on Friday to pay TSA agents, as travelers have faced long wait times at airports nationwide due to officer callouts and resignations.
The House’s 60-day funding bill is unlikely to gain traction in the Senate, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling the bill “dead on arrival.”
“Democrats will fund critical Homeland Security functions,” Schumer said. “But we will not give a blank check to Trump’s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms.”
