Speaker Mike Johnson announced House Republicans would reject the bill to fund DHS sent over by the Republican-controlled Senate on Friday and went so far as to accuse Senate Republicans of not reading the bill they passed after weeks of negotiations.
The move is likely to extend the government shutdown, as Americans’ frustrations with hours-long airport lines mount, with TSA workers calling out after going unpaid for weeks.
“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson said, holding up the Senate compromise bill.
“I’m quite convinced that it can’t be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill,” he said, visibly frustrated.
The Senate quietly passed its version of the DHS funding bill by unanimous consent overnight to end the shutdown before skipping out of town for a planned two-week recess.
Their bill would have funded all of DHS, including TSA, but it excluded more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as Democrats had been demanding further restrictions be put in place since the ICE killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.
While Republicans control the Senate, they need support from Senate Democrats to avoid the filibuster and pass the bill.
But Johnson made it sound like Democrats were in control, not Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when he slammed the bill and said House Republicans would go a different route.
“It’s unconscionable to me that the Democrats would force some sort of negotiation at three o’clock in the morning to try and hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday and pretend and think that we’re going to go along with that,” Johnson vented.
But when it was pointed out that Thune was behind the Senate bill, Johnson became increasingly frustrated.
“I wouldn’t call John Thune the engineer of this,” he shot back, before blaming Senate Democrats again. “I have to protect the House.”
House Republicans will instead propose their own bill to extend DHS funding at its current levels through May 22, though the shutdown is likely to continue as senators have already left town and Democrats previously balked at agreeing to any more ICE funding.
Ahead of Johnson’s announcement, some House Republicans early Friday were furious that Senate Republicans would pass a bill to fund DHS that didn’t include ICE and CBP and did not include voting provisions that President Donald Trump had previously demanded before backing off.
Johnson argued TSA workers would get paid in the meantime thanks to Trump’s executive order on Thursday. DHS said workers could begin receiving paychecks as early as Monday, March 30.
He also said he had spoken to Trump, and the president understood what House Republicans were doing.
The president slammed Democrats on Friday. He also posted on Truth Social, urging the Senate to nuke the filibuster: “The Republicans should TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and VOTE! Haven’t they had enough of this nonsense from the Radical Left Lunatics that are looking to destroy our Country?”
Johnson also seemed to indicate the Senate bill would not have the votes to pass in the GOP-controlled House, as some conservative members have blasted it. But House Democrats indicated they could get behind the Senate bill, so it likely could have passed with some bipartisan support had Johnson allowed it to come to the floor.
“The only thing standing between the American people and a much-needed end to the airport chaos is House Republicans. The House should consider the bipartisan DHS funding bill immediately,” House Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.
Instead, Johnson argued that the Senate could take up the GOP House’s so-called continuing resolution on Monday rather than going on recess. Johnson denied his move would extend the shutdown, though it appears impossible that it would not.
While TSA employees have been working without pay for weeks, ICE agents have been receiving paychecks as the agency received a massive influx of funding through Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed last summer.
