House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing an uprising from Republican lawmakers after his abrupt reversal on the Department of Homeland Security bill passed by the Senate, reported Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman on Thursday afternoon.
“The furor in the House GOP at their leadership right now is astounding. Hardline conservatives. Moderates. Leadership allies. Etc,” wrote Sherman. After House leadership said in unison that the Senate bill was garbage, Sherman wrote, “now they are being asked to vote for it and told it is the only option.”
The bill in question, passed by voice vote in the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support, funds the Department of Homeland Security, ending the weekslong shutdown, but does not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol, kicking the can for now on Democrats’ demands to reform these agencies after Trump used them to terrorize cities around the country.
That shutdown has led to chaos at airports as the Transportation Security Administration has gone unfunded, although Trump has moved to pay them by executive decree.
Republicans want to put funding for ICE and Border Patrol into a reconciliation bill, which would get around a Democratic filibuster — but simply pledging that for the future is not satisfactory for many House Republicans, Sherman noted in another earlier post.
“Several members on the House GOP call suggested that the House not pass the Senate’s DHS bill until reconciliation is in process/done/close to done,” wrote Sherman. “That would mean waiting potentially weeks or months for the DHS bill to pass. The leadership thinks this move is a possibility. Although it’s not yet clear how long reconciliation will take and whether the White House is ok with this strategy.”
All of this comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) warns lawmakers to keep the reconciliation bill as narrow and targeted as possible, without adding in other GOP priorities that could cause infighting and parliamentary wrangling.
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