GOP Leaders Unveil Two-Track DHS Funding Plan

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced plans this week to advance a two-track approach to resolve the ongoing partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which has stretched into its eighth week and become the longest in U.S. history. The strategy, endorsed by President Donald Trump, calls for funding most DHS agencies through a bipartisan spending bill while addressing immigration enforcement funding separately via budget reconciliation to bypass Senate filibuster rules.

The shutdown began in mid-February after negotiations collapsed between Republicans and Democrats over reforms to immigration enforcement practices. Democrats have conditioned support for funding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection on additional safeguards, citing incidents such as the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers during operations in Minneapolis in January. As a result, thousands of DHS employees, including those at the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency, have worked without pay for over 50 days. Trump issued an executive order last...