The Senate has now passed a DHS funding bill via unanimous consent, which funds TSA and FEMA but excludes funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Here’s the news:
2:19am ET: On partial DHS shutdown Day 42, the Senate passed legislation to fund and reopen the Homeland Security Department through September 30th, but without funding or reforms for ICE and Border Patrol. Bill now heads to the House. pic.twitter.com/06ugkHYw2S
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 27, 2026
And more from The Hill:
Senators agreed by unanimous consent early Friday morning to a proposal that funds the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other critical agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The late-night Senate deal left out funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol after negotiators failed to agree on reforms demanded by Democrats after federal immigration officers fatally shot two protesters in Minneapolis in January.
The deal came together swiftly after months of often-stalled negotiations and just before lawmakers were set to depart for a two-week recess — and as hours-long lines at airport TSA checkpoints put enormous pressure on them to act.
Senate leaders sent around a hotline request to senators early Friday morning to see if there would be objections to funding the TSA, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) by unanimous consent. The proposal also included funding for customs officers at border checkpoints.
When it returned without objection, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) moved quickly to unanimously approve the funding that had been stalled for more than 40 days.
The speedy agreement was surprising given that Democrats had on several occasions this month requested unanimous consent on the Senate floor to fund the TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and CISA with Republicans objecting each time.
Thune told reporters Friday morning that Republicans rejected those earlier efforts to fund the DHS in pieces because they were hoping for a deal to fund the entire department.
But Thune said they abandoned that effort and “pivoted” to a new strategy when it became clear that Democrats would not accept the reforms Republicans were willing to make to ICE in exchange for passing the entire Homeland Security appropriations bill.
“This was all about reforms, and they were all on the table,” he said. “Basically, that door kind of closed and they started to take the funding [for ICE] off the table. … I just think their base was demanding that they not fund ICE.”
“We had hoped we would get a funding bill and we were trying to accommodate their requests for reform,” he added. “We couldn’t get any closer on it, so you kind of pivot to the next strategy. But it’s unfortunate it didn’t get done because it’s not good for America.”
The bill will now head to the House. As you know, ICE has been fully funded the entire time, and Senate Republicans are now planning another reconciliation bill in which they will fully fund DHS further out than what it’s already funded for. So Democrats got nothing, except to cause great pain to the American people, and Republicans will finish the funding with reconciliation.
As Guy Benson wrote this morning…
Democrats didn’t actually achieve anything. They caused a 40+ day shutdown & ended up getting zero policy changes to the agency they’re demonizing, which has been funded the whole time. And Rs say they’ll fund that agency further through reconciliation anyway. I guess the win was causing the harm and pain without really getting punished for it & showing unity in resistance.
But I guarantee you the garbage media will call this a win for the Democrats.
Now, can we get the freaking Save Act passed in the Senate already???