❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that his administration is working with Republican leaders in the House and Senate to draft a second budget reconciliation bill aimed at funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of his second term.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The funding lapse has lasted 47 days as of April 2026. Discussions are ongoing in Washington, D.C., with potential legislative action by June 1.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st.” – Donald Trump
🎯IMPACT: The budget reconciliation process could bypass Democratic opposition, but it may extend the funding lapse and require significant spending cuts to succeed.
President Donald J. Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that his administration is working with Republican leaders in the House and Senate to draft a second budget reconciliation bill aimed at funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of his second term. The move, if successful, would bring to an end the Senate Democrat-led partial government shutdown that has withheld funding for DHS, including core subagencies like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), for 47 days so far.
“[W]e are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune,” President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. He continued, “I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st.”
“In the meantime, we will continue to use funding from THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, which is giving Record Tax Rebates to Citizens all over the Country, to ensure that ICE and Border Patrol Agents are paid ON TIME, and IN FULL, as we have been doing for them throughout the Democrat Shutdown,” the President added.
Since the partial government shutdown began in late February, multiple Republican attempts to pass DHS funding in the Senate have been defeated by Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has leveraged the chamber’s 60-vote cloture rule to end debate and exert veto power over any DHS appropriations package unless Republicans agree to progressive-backed provisions that would effectively gut President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions.
By using the budget reconciliation process, Senate Republicans would be able to sidestep the Democrats’ use of the filibuster and adopt DHS funding by a simple majority vote. Notably, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had previously floated using budget reconciliation to pass certain election integrity provisions in the SAVE America Act. However, the lack of revenue provisions in the election integrity bill would likely result in the Senate parliamentarian ruling them out under the Byrd Rule, which prohibits non-budgetary provisions in reconciliation bills.
Republican leaders quickly announced they will back President Trump’s plan, with Sen. Thune stating, “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.”
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