The House on Thursday passed stalled legislation reopening the Department of Homeland Security, ending a record shutdown at the agency and resolving uncertainty over whether thousands of federal security workers would be paid in May.
The voice vote after a brief debate brought to a close a bitter partisan fight spurred by President Trump’s immigration crackdown and the tactics of federal immigration officers who fatally shot two U.S. citizens during immigration roundups in Minneapolis earlier this year. Negotiations between Democrats and the White House over new restrictions went nowhere, leading to an impasse that cut off funding on Feb. 14.
But it was a dispute among Republicans that has kept the department shuttered for nearly a month, and the G.O.P. had to bypass its own right flank to push through the bill.
Senate Republicans had struck a deal on April 1 to fund everything except for the immigration enforcement agencies, vowing to approve that money separately in a bill that Democrats could not block. But the House G.O.P. refused for weeks to act on the bill, with conservatives balking at voting for a measure that did not fund ICE and border patrol.
House leaders finally took it up on Thursday ahead of a 12-day break, and after the White House requested that the bill be passed immediately.
The legislation pays for department operations through Sept. 30, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of border patrol, which received an earlier influx of money from a Republican-only bill. Republicans in the House and Senate are now seeking an additional $70 billion to fund immigration operations through the end of Mr. Trump’s second term, using a process that would be shielded from a Democratic filibuster.
Speaker Mike Johnson had sat on the legislation despite encouragement from the White House to pass it, since some Republicans were opposed to voting for legislation that explicitly zeroed out money for immigration operations. The White House had shifted existing funds around to pay workers after disruptions in security screening caused chaos at some airports, but warned this week that it was running short of money to continue doing so.
With some Republicans still refusing to allow the measure to come up, Mr. Johnson was forced to resort to a maneuver that sped it to the floor, limiting debate and requiring a two-thirds supermajority for passage.
Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent for The Times, primarily writing about Congress and national political races and issues. He has nearly four decades of experience reporting in the nation’s capital.
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