GOP Leaders Abruptly Reverse Course on Border Funding, Split DHS Bill in Two

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Wednesday they will advance a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that deliberately excludes immigration enforcement agencies, punting those budget decisions to a separate reconciliation package due by June 1.

The reversal represents a stunning about-face. Just five days earlier, Johnson had savaged an identical approach from the Senate as a "joke," and House Republicans had unanimously rejected it. Freedom Caucus members had called the proposal "absolutely offensive," specifically citing the exclusion of Border Patrol and ICE from funding.

What changed: Trump endorsed the two-track approach on Wednesday via Truth Social, essentially blessing the very plan he had criticized days before. Senate Budget Committee momentum on the reconciliation bill also shifted calculations. Johnson and Thune argued Democratic obstruction left them no viable alternative.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," they said in a joint statement.

The DHS shutdown, now record-long, has left the agency partially unfunded since January 1. The current proposal would fund most department operations immediately while deferring border agency appropriations to the reconciliation process, which operates under different legislative rules and is harder for Democrats to block.

Even as GOP leadership announced the shift, numerous House Republicans privately expressed doubt that a separate reconciliation bill could actually move through Congress before the June 1 deadline. Rep. Eric Burlison told Axios the effort would require rapid movement and inclusion of healthcare reforms. Rep. David Valadao warned Tuesday that leaving parts of DHS unfunded to resolve later "is a bad idea."

Johnson himself had resisted the concept as recently as Tuesday, telling Fox News: "They sent us a bill that literally put the number zero in the bill for the funding of border security and customs and immigration enforcement. We can't do that."

The Senate passed an identical DHS bill last Friday with unanimous consent, excluding ICE and CBP funding. House Republicans rejected it outright. Johnson then moved a 60-day continuing resolution to fully fund DHS, which passed Friday on party lines but faced certain Democratic rejection in the Senate.

The Senate is expected to take up the new DHS measure Thursday morning under unanimous consent procedures. Timing for House action remains unclear, and Johnson has not yet decided whether to call lawmakers back from a two-week recess that began Monday.

The reconciliation process will begin in the Senate under Trump's June 1 deadline for completing ICE and CBP funding legislation.