❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Senate passed a funding bill by voice vote to end a partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), and President Donald J. Trump.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Early Friday morning in the U.S. Senate.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We will be back in reconciliation where 50-plus-one votes are enough, and the filibuster cannot save you.” – Sen. Eric Schmitt
🎯IMPACT: The bill now heads to the House, where its fate remains uncertain, while Republicans plan to pursue funding for immigration agencies through reconciliation.
The U.S. Senate passed a funding bill by voice vote to effectively end the Senate Democrats’ partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) early Friday morning. The bill funds most of the department but excludes certain parts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and most of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), particularly Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the funding bill’s passage, stating, “It’s not the way to fund the department, but we are out of time for the critical responsibilities and tens of thousands of workers currently going without pay.” Thune emphasized that Democrats achieved none of the radical restrictions or pro-open borders policy changes they had demanded to reopen DHS.
The Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), had pushed for restrictions on federal immigration agents, citing recent fatal shootings of anti-ICE agitators. Schumer stated, “Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms.”
Meanwhile, President Donald J. Trump had intervened by proposing an Executive Order to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers during the shutdown. Following the Senate vote, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) sought unanimous consent for a separate measure to fund ICE and CBP, but Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) objected, citing the lack of inclusion of Democrats’ radical restrictions on federal immigration agents in the proposed funding.
Schmitt vowed to secure funding through a reconciliation bill, saying, “We will be back in reconciliation where 50-plus-one votes are enough and the filibuster cannot save you. We’ll be back to deliver the funding ICE needs, and we’ll be back to deliver the policy changes the American people are demanding.”
The DHS funding bill now moves to the House for consideration.
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