DHS shutdown enters Day 60 with all eyes on House Republicans to end it
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown entered its 60th day on Wednesday, but House Republicans are standing in the way of reopening much of the agency.Congress returned in full...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown entered its 60th day on Wednesday, but House Republicans are standing in the way of reopening much of the agency. Congress returned in full on Wednesday, but there is no sense of urgency to end the longest government shutdown in history. Instead, the House is mired in a fight over extending the federal government’s spying powers, which expire next week. The House did not schedule a vote on the Senate DHS bill for this week after returning to Washington following the Easter recess. SENATE GOP VOWS TO ‘GO IT ALONE’ ON ICE FUNDING AS DEMS DOUBLE DOWN ON SHUTDOWN Though it’s an issue started by congressional Democrats in the dead of winter, Republicans have now been passed the buck to finish it and are eyeing a party-line maneuver to fund immigration enforcement — the main sticking point in the ongoing back-and-forth — for the remainder of President Donald Trump's term. "Republicans have been forced to do this the hard way," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. Part of the problem on the DHS funding front is that House Republicans are frustrated that they are being forced to consider the Senate’s Homeland Security funding bill, which carves out Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The only deal that can pass with Democrats' support is to remove funding for those agencies, while Republicans say they’re being cornered into defunding law enforcement. SENATE PASSES BILL TO FUND MOST OF DHS AFTER HOUSE GOP CAVES In the meantime, the solution is to produce a "skinny" budget reconciliation package that funds ICE and Border Patrol, cutting out Democrats from the process entirely. "The intention is that we now have to come in behind that and pass a reconciliation bill that would enable those agencies to continue to be funded three years into the future," Thune said. He and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are slated to meet Wednesday afternoon to get both cham…