The House voted Friday night to fund the Department of Homeland Security through May 22, rejecting a Senate alternative and intensifying a bitter dispute between Republican chambers over how to end a shutdown now stretching into its second month.
Speaker Mike Johnson's eight-week measure passed 213-203, backed by all Republicans plus three Democrats: Reps. Don Davis of North Carolina, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Henry Cuellar of Texas.
The move sets up an immediate standoff. The Senate had already passed its own bill early Friday morning, funding DHS through September 30 but pointedly excluding money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Senate Republican leaders signaled they would address those agencies separately through reconciliation, using only GOP votes.
Johnson blasted the Senate approach as a "joke," arguing it abandoned critical border security functions. His counter-proposal provides full funding across the department, including ICE and CBP.
The schism reflects deeper tensions between House and Senate Republicans over how aggressively to use the shutdown as leverage on immigration enforcement. By stripping funding from ICE and CBP, Senate Majority Leader John Thune's coalition essentially forced a choice: accept a short-term funding gap for those agencies or negotiate over their future through the reconciliation process, where Democrats cannot block Republican priorities.
Johnson rejected that gambit, opting instead for a straightforward extension that keeps all DHS operations fully funded. The strategy buys time but leaves the fundamental question unresolved.
Democrats have already signaled opposition to the House bill. Senate Democrats are expected to block it if brought to a vote, leaving Republicans without a clear path to resolution.
The Senate departed for a two-week recess after voting on its bill, meaning lawmakers would have to return to Washington to take up the House measure. No timeline has been set, and it remains uncertain whether Senate leadership will call members back or let the shutdown persist.
The impasse highlights the delicate balance Republican leaders face: satisfy the party's immigration hardliners demanding maximum leverage, while also ending a shutdown that has already stretched longer than anticipated. The House and Senate approaches reflect competing visions of how much political capital to spend on DHS funding relative to other fiscal priorities.
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