To End House GOP’s DHS Shutdown, U.S. Senate Again Unanimously Approves Bipartisan DHS Funding

WASHINGTON, DC - Amidst Republican's bitter intra-party divide, the U.S. Senate today held a pro forma session and once again gave its unanimous stamp of approval to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding legislation. The Republican-controlled Senate officially re-approved bipartisan language identical to what it passed last week to end the partial DHS shutdown, which began in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by out of control federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents who have yet to be held accountable.

With most U.S. Senators out of town, the Senate acted on a bipartisan basis with unanimous consent during a procedural meeting to re-pass and re-send the House a bipartisan bill to fund the bulk of DHS -- aside from ICE and Border Patrol.

Today's Senate action, which received backing from President Trump, makes clear that House Republican leaders are the only impediment to re-opening DHS.

Despite the fact that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) adjourned the House for recess earlier in the week, the House held its own pro forma session today, shortly after the Senate's and opted not to swiftly pass the Senate bill. This prolongs the partial Republican shutdown of DHS for reasons Republicans have not explained. It is now up to House Republicans when they want to approve the bill and send it to President Trump's desk to be signed into law.

The partial DHS shutdown began on February 14 in the wake of ICE trampling the rights of Americans and was needlessly prolonged after President Trump urged Republicans not to reform ICE or reach an agreement to fund DHS and instead try to use the partial shutdown as leverage to pass unrelated legislation that would repress the ability of eligible Americans to vote in this year's mid-term elections and beyond. That strategy has been failing as Republican state election officials publicly admitted Trump's partisan voter suppression proposal was unworkable and problematic.

Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed stated: "Congressional Republicans should stop squabbling with each other and join Democrats to prioritize the safety and security of the American people. This bill could have and should have been done a month ago when Democrats first offered it as a sensible compromise after it became clear that Republicans were obstructing needed ICE reforms. But instead of prioritizing the public good, President Trump wasted a month trying to use this to his political advantage and punish federal workers. He failed, but still caused a lot of waste and harm.

"Democrats will continue pushing for commonsense reforms to rein in out of control ICE and Border Patrol agents and hold them accountable for unjustified and unconstitutional actions.

"I urge House Republicans to responsibly reopen DHS."

Republican leaders have scheduled both chambers to return the week of April 13. Republicans also plan to use the budget-reconciliation process to pass a bill along a party line vote that funds a GOP wish list of priorities, including more money for ICE operations, on top of the $75 billion Republicans handed ICE in the last reconciliation bill, an amount that is over seven times the agency's regular annual budget.

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