DHS shutdown: Congressional dysfunction imperils TSA, Secret Service pay

The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than 70 days and with Congress seemingly at an impasse on a series of contentious topics, and there’s no quick end to the funding lapse on the horizon.

As the House spun its wheels on Tuesday, some turned to a higher power. 

“I have a copy of the serenity prayer here,” said House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., kicking off a Tuesday afternoon hearing. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, the wisdom to know the differences.”

The congressional to-do list is long. In addition to DHS funding, it includes thorny legislation like the reauthorization of a controversial foreign surveillance program that expires at the end of April, a bill that sets agricultural and food policies and a budget measure on Republican immigration priorities that some hope will pave the way to ending the partial government shutdown.

Congress, while rife with dysfunction, is in short supply of time. Both chambers are slated to take a weeklong break starting Friday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April that he said would authorize paying all DHS employees during the shutdown. But that emergency funding could dry up by May 1, according to Trump administration officials.

If it does, Transportation Security Administration agents could begin missing paychecks again, which at the start of the shutdown caused massive delays at airports across the country. It could also mean Secret Service agents, who stopped an alleged gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the weekend, could soon go without pay, along with other DHS workers.

“The Senate has twice — twice — passed DHS funding unanimously, starting 33 days ago,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Senate in late March approved a DHS bill that would have funded the agency except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, but the House spiked the proposal amid backlash from conservative within the conference.

“All [Speaker Mike] Johnson has to do is put it on the floor and it’ll pass. It’ll pass by a whole lot of votes. But right now, Republicans are blocking it,” Schumer said.

Just stuck

The finger pointing over DHS funding goes both ways.

Republicans have repeatedly taken shots at Democrats, who refused to fund DHS in February after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in January during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Most Democrats have continued to withhold their support from any legislation that would provide funding to ICE and parts of CBP without changes in immigration enforcement practices.

“The Radical Left Democrats have kept DHS shut down since February 14th. Our Great Speaker, Mike Johnson, is working hard to end the Democrat Shut Down, and pass the first step of a plan to get FULL FUNDING for our incredible ICE and Border Patrol Agents,” President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday, referring to a budget resolution that Republicans introduced last week under the “budget reconciliation” process.

Budget reconciliation is a way to pass spending-related initiatives with a simple majority in the Senate, as opposed to the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in the chamber, allowing for passage of contentious provisions on a party-line vote.

House Republicans have said passage of a reconciliation bill to fund ICE and CBP is a precondition to them voting for a bill to fund the rest of DHS. But that entire two-step plan to end the partial government shutdown is held up this week as the House toils over other contentious bills.

Complicating matters further, Johnson told reporters on Monday that the Senate-passed version of the DHS funding bill would need to be changed to clear the House, in which case it would need to go back to the upper chamber for final approval.

“We don’t know what they’re talking about,” Schumer said Tuesday when asked about Johnson’s modified version of the bill. “They’re just stuck.”

Republican infighting stalls DHS funding, other legislation

The House Rules Committee — which typically determines which bills make it to the House floor — returned to Congress on Monday with the hope of advancing together the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the ICE and CBP budget resolution and the farm bill. Broader DHS funding wasn’t included in that plan as many House Republicans say they won’t support that measure without first funding ICE and CBP.

But Republican infighting scuttled those plans as the Rules Committee — which has to set the rules for debate before legislation reaches the House floor — failed to come to an agreement.

The right flank of the party has demanded changes to FISA, including a warrant requirement for U.S. data seized as part of the program. Republican hardliners also opposed provisions in the farm bill that they say would shield pesticide makers from liability. 

With a narrow majority, Republican leaders can afford to lose few within their ranks to advance any legislation.

“Note the common theme across DHS funding, the reconciliation bill, and 702 extension: all three are tangled up in internal Republican squabbling,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., posted to X on Tuesday. “This is NOT partisan division, this is Republican incompetence.”