Republicans are moving to fund Homeland Security 'the hard way' after
end of talks
[April 15, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are forging ahead with a risky
go-it-alone strategy for fully funding the Department of Homeland
Security, which has been shut down for almost two months as Democrats
demand changes to President Donald Trump’s broad campaign of immigration
enforcement.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that Republicans will try
to pass the money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs
and Border Protection “ the hard way.” That means bypassing Democrats,
who say a funding bill should place restraints on federal immigration
authorities, including better identification for federal officers and
more use of judicial warrants.
Democrats will now get “none of that,” Thune said, after bipartisan
negotiations stalled. Republicans are instead preparing a partisan bill
that they will try to pass under a complicated, time-consuming maneuver
called budget reconciliation that only requires a simple majority vote
in the 53-47 Senate.
The process could be messy. Thune, R-S.D., is pushing for a narrow bill
that would only include money for ICE and CBP in an effort to reopen the
department quickly. But some of his Republican colleagues are likely to
push to add other unrelated priorities.
Democrats say they will continue to insist on reforms to the agencies.
“Americans want ICE and Border Patrol reined in,” Senate Democratic
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
Thune hopes for a ‘narrow’ bill
Thune and GOP leaders have said they want to speed the legislation
through Congress with only the Homeland Security funding so that the
department can reopen as quickly as possible.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Republican, and Senate Budget
Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., discussed that strategy with
Trump at a White House meeting Friday. Barrasso posted afterward that
“President Trump set a deadline of June 1 to get to his desk a focused
reconciliation bill that funds ICE and Border Patrol.”
Trump appeared to be on board, posting on his social media site that “we
are moving FAST and FOCUSED in keeping our Border SECURE!”
But it won’t be easy to keep senators — or the House — from trying to
add other items to the bill.
Trump has been pushing his strict proof-of-citizenship bill, the SAVE
Act, and the White House could soon request billions of dollars for the
Iran war. Farm-state senators have been hoping to move a wide-ranging
farm bill to boost the agricultural economy. And some Republicans say
they should cut other programs to pay for the legislation, which could
cost around $75 billion.
Republican leaders say they would do a second partisan budget
reconciliation bill to deal with some of those issues. But many in the
conference are skeptical that could happen this year, especially with
thin GOP margins in both chambers and an election approaching.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters at
the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J.
Scott Applewhite)
“We’re looking at the narrow vision,” said GOP Sen. John Hoeven of
North Dakota after Republicans held a lunch meeting about the bill
Tuesday. “Now, do people have other ideas? Of course.”
Lengthy DHS shutdown has no clear end
The Homeland Security Department has been shut down since
mid-February.
After federal agents shot two protesters in Minneapolis in January,
Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill
be separated from a larger spending measure that became law as the
two sides negotiated. But the DHS funding lapsed with no agreement
on changes to his administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
In March, the Senate passed legislation by voice vote that would
separate out ICE and Customs and Border Protection and fund the rest
of the department, including the Transportation Security
Administration as security lines grew long at some airports. But
Republicans in the House refused to vote for it, saying they
wouldn’t support any bill that didn’t include money for immigration
enforcement.
Congress then left town for a two-week recess, leaving the issue
unresolved. Trump has used executive orders to pay some department
salaries in the meantime, but that is not a permanent solution.
During the recess, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced
that they would pursue a two-track approach — pass the Senate bill
that includes most of the department's funding through regular order
and use the party-line bill to pass ICE and CBP funding. But it
remains unclear if Johnson will be able to persuade his members to
go along with that approach.
After returning to Washington this week, Thune said Republicans will
try to use the budget bill to fund the agencies for three years,
circumventing annual spending bills in an effort to prevent another
shutdown during Trump’s term.
The agencies would be funded “not only today but well into the
future,” Thune said.
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