Lawmakers clash over funding deals with Homeland Security as closure strains airport security

WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. Senate waited for a response from Democrats on Tuesday after they sent them a modern offer to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shuttered since mid-February.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the proposal would fund many of the agencies within DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, but would not provide modern spending for some immigration enforcement and deportation efforts.

These programs, largely run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, received tens of billions of dollars as part of the Republicans’ “big, beautiful” bill of 2025, largely exempting these federal workers from the shutdowns.

Thune said the offer currently on the table would give the House and Senate the opportunity to pass another budget reconciliation bill complicated process Provide additional funding for immigration and deportation programs.

The special legislative route would allow GOP leaders to push a bill through the Senate with a basic majority as long as they play by the rules. That would bypass the need for Democratic votes to get past the 60-vote legislative filibuster that applies to other bills.

Pressure for a bipartisan deal to fund DHS grew in recent days after security lines at airports across the country led to hours-long waits, causing passengers to miss their flights and face exorbitant change fees. Union leaders on Tuesday required Lawmakers agree on funding for the Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS.

SAVE Act too

A possible reconciliation package, Thune said, could include elements of the SAVE America Act, an election bill supported by President Donald Trump remains stalled in the Senate amid Democratic opposition.

“This is a really good result with which we have moved the Democrats far in our direction,” said Thune. “And I also think there is an appreciation that reconciliation in terms of additional funding and perhaps a solution to the SAVE America Act could be a possibility.”

Thune said the DHS spending bill would not include any of the immigration overhauls that Democrats have pushed for since federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.

“It was pretty clear they didn’t want funding,” he said. “So if you don’t have funding, I don’t know how you can suddenly demand reforms now, because I think for them that was the problem.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during an afternoon news conference that Democrats were preparing a counteroffer that would include changes to how ICE operates.

“This does not provide for any reforms in ICE. But negotiations are ongoing and they have sent us an offer and we will send them an offer back,” the New York Democrat said. “And I can assure you that it will include significant reforms.”

Schumer sketched What he called “common sense” changed immigration enforcement policies in behind schedule January after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

Democrats stick with immigration reform

Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she would continue to push for “modest reforms” to immigration activities during negotiations over the DHS spending bill.

“When we talk about funding any part of ICE or CBP, we absolutely need to take some important steps to rein it in. The current Republican offer we have does not do that,” she said.

Murray later added that negotiators “have made some progress and the White House has already agreed to some steps” but that the main issue is that “reforms must be enacted into law.”

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said the Trump administration “has created this problem where it’s really difficult to address an out-of-control immigration enforcement measure because it’s funded by almost every part of the DHS budget.”

Murphy said he got the impression that Democrats “still have a strong belief that we’re not going to fund any immigration control measure without reform.”

Republicans are calling for a deal

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford said the latest DHS funding offer was what Democrats had “demanded repeatedly” and that Trump had signed onto it.

Lankford said Republican senators “could” defer additional spending on immigration enforcement through the reconciliation process, pointing to funding they approved just last year as part of the “big, beautiful” bill.

“There was something like that last year, and then the Democrats had something like that in the (Inflation Reduction Act),” he said.

North Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven said he believes Democrats need to “embrace” the DHS funding deal.

“They keep telling us they’re going to go with us, and now they have to do it,” he said. “You can’t keep trying to secure or change the deal. It’s time to make it happen.”

Adding SAVE Act could be challenging

The Republican plan should be used the complicated budget reconciliation The process to pass additional funding for immigration and deportation programs as well as elements of her voter identification law, called the SAVE America Act, could face headwinds.

Any reconciliation bill would require the support of nearly every Republican in Congress, a complicated obstacle given the party’s particularly slim majority in both chambers.

The reconciliation process is also cumbersome and filled with rules at almost every point, including the fact that all of its elements must deal with federal revenues, expenses or debts. And these changes cannot be viewed as “merely coincidental” by the Senate parliamentarian.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, expressed doubt about using the reconciliation process to postpone elements of the SAVE America Act, saying, “I don’t think that’s a good approach.”

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Republicans are “in the early stages” of figuring out what, if any, elements of the SAVE America Act can make it through the reconciliation process.

“It’s going to be difficult because it’s not a budget impact, it’s a policy impact. But that doesn’t mean some good things can’t move forward that would contribute to the integrity of the vote,” she said. “So we’ll just have to wait and see. I think reconciliation is probably something we’ll think hard about when we get back.”

Proof of citizenship

The legislation has several elements, but generally requires Americans to prove their citizenship by presenting a birth certificate or passport when voting. When voters attempt to cast their ballot, they must show photo ID. And all states would be required to submit their voter lists to a DHS database.

The bill will fail to pass the Senate’s 60-vote vote robust resistance from Democrats.

South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said one way to move “objects” in the SAVE America Act through reconciliation would be to provide states with funding to implement some of its provisions.

“I haven’t seen the exact wording in it. I just know that in most cases it’s about providing money,” he said. “The policy would not be included, but the resources would be made available because when it comes to reconciliation you can’t do politics, you can do resources.”

Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno said Republican senators are “doing everything we can to achieve reconciliation to enact portions of the SAVE America Act.”

And while he wasn’t entirely sure how Republicans would prove that these changes weren’t “just coincidental” in the context of the multitrillion-dollar federal budget, he said there’s “a whole team of really, really smart people who are going to answer that question.”

Moreno said Republicans “don’t have to get everything in every way” on the SAVE America Act.

“Just keep the conversation going,” he said. “Ultimately, the American public will punish Democrats who don’t pursue 80-20 issues.”