WASHINGTON - In the early hours of Thursday, the U.S. Senate took procedural action to allow the House of Representatives to consider a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that the Senate approved late last week. The measure would fund DHS through September 30 and, if enacted, would end a partial DHS shutdown that has lasted nearly seven weeks.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, addressing a largely unoccupied chamber, moved to remove a competing 60-day stopgap funding bill that the House had passed but which stood little chance of obtaining sufficient support in the Senate. The Senate had set aside that House-passed stopgap on Friday and entered a recess, signaling its opposition to the short-term measure.
The Senate-approved package does not provide new resources for immigration law enforcement activities, which the text describes as already being robustly funded. Republican leaders in both the Senate and the House announced on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement intended to conclude the DHS funding dispute.
Despite the leaders' announcement, it remains unclear whether the full House will take up the Senate bill immediately when it convenes at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), or whether a majority of House Republicans will support the compromise. If the House moves the Senate-passed measure and it clears that chamber, the legislation would then be sent to the President for signature, completing the process to restore DHS funding through the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30.
The Senate's action to kill the House's 60-day stopgap effectively cleared the path for the House to consider the longer-term funding bill approved by the Senate. The procedural votes and the leadership-level agreement remove one significant institutional obstacle, but they leave open questions about timing and intra-party support in the House.
Context and next steps
The immediate next step is whether the House will take up the bill when it meets as scheduled. If it does so and it passes, the legislation would proceed to the President for signing, concluding the partial shutdown for DHS. If the House declines to act or if a substantial number of House Republicans oppose the Senate text, the funding impasse could continue.