The Senate moved unanimously in a rare overnight session to advance funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security, taking a partial step toward reopening agencies affected by the shutdown. The deal leaves out Immigration and Customs Enforcement and part of Customs and Border Protection, while still aiming to keep core security functions running.
The agreement would cover agencies including the Transportation Security Administration, the US Coast Guard, FEMA, and CISA, but the House must still act before the money can reach the department and employees can return to normal operations. The vote came after negotiations broke down late Thursday, pushing senators to use unanimous consent to move forward on the portions they could still settle quickly.
What the Senate agreed to fund
Senate leaders said the plan would restore money for several DHS components that have been hit by the funding lapse. That includes airport security, maritime protection, disaster response, and cybersecurity operations tied to federal infrastructure.
The key agencies included in the agreement are:
- Transportation Security Administration
- US Coast Guard
- FEMA
- CISA
- Other DHS functions tied to ports of entry
The measure does not include ICE and border patrol, which remain the most contested parts of the department’s budget fight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the chamber would “execute on as much of DHS as we can tonight, and then we’ll fund the rest of it later.”
Why the agreement came together overnight
The late-night move followed a collapse in negotiations earlier in the evening, which left senators with limited options. With thousands of TSA workers and other DHS employees already missing pay, pressure had grown on Capitol Hill to narrow the shutdown’s impact before a scheduled two-week recess.
Travel disruptions added urgency to the talks as airports reported major delays and missed flights linked to unpaid security staff. The situation also sharpened the political stakes, since both parties faced pressure to show movement without conceding on the full DHS package.
ICE and border patrol remain outside the deal
Thune said the Senate would fund “everything but ICE and CBP” in the immediate measure, while noting that customs operations had been partially addressed but not border patrol. He added that Republicans had already set aside funding for those agencies in a broader domestic policy bill passed earlier, which he said was designed in part to anticipate the current impasse.
That earlier planning became a central talking point for Republicans as they defended the strategy of separating DHS into smaller funding pieces. Thune argued that the party had “frontloaded” border-related funding because lawmakers expected a fight over the department’s budget.
Pressure from the White House and the House
Thune said he spoke with President Donald Trump before the president announced he would direct DHS to pay TSA agents even if the department remained unfunded. He said Trump understood what Senate leaders were trying to do and appeared to anticipate the partial funding strategy.
Still, the Senate move is only one step in the process, since the House must also approve the measure. Thune said he did not know what the House would do, though he expressed hope that lawmakers there would act quickly enough to reopen at least part of the government.
How both parties framed the vote
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Democrats for staying united during the DHS shutdown and said the compromise protected key security functions without giving, in his words, a “blank check” to ICE and border patrol. He said the measure would fund TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, CISA, and border security at ports of entry.
Schumer also argued that the agreement could have been reached much earlier if Republicans had accepted reforms tied to enforcement practices. He said Democrats remained firm in their objections and would keep pushing for changes in future negotiations.
Thune countered that Democrats had lost the opportunity to secure those policy changes and suggested they were more focused on the political fight than on a practical solution. He described the result as a missed chance to settle the dispute before the wider shutdown damage spread further.
The next step now depends on whether the House can move quickly enough to accept the Senate’s partial funding plan and send relief to affected DHS employees, airports, and border-related operations still caught in the broader shutdown standoff.
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