Senate May Cancel Recess Unless DHS Funding Deal Reached

Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned Thursday that the Senate will likely cancel its planned two-week recess starting next Friday unless lawmakers reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been operating under a partial shutdown for more than a month. The threat came as a bipartisan group of senators met privately in the Capitol with Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's border security official, in an effort to break the impasse over immigration enforcement reforms.

The meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes, included key members of the Appropriations Committee and moderate senators who previously helped end a government shutdown last fall. Participants described the discussion as robust but yielded no agreement. "I'm glad that the White House is here, but we're still a long ways apart," said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. Homan, who declined to detail progress, emphasized the need to reopen the department fully, stating, "We're going to keep having discussions."

The partial shutdown began on February 14 after Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed funding bill for the fiscal year, citing concerns...