On March 25, 2026, people wait in long security lines at LaGuardia Airport in the New York borough of Queens. Travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents have quit or are working without pay during a partial government shutdown. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. senators showed no sign Wednesday of reaching a deal to end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, despite the problems it is causing for thousands of federal workers missing another paycheck and travelers waiting hours to get through airport security.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said an offer sent by Democrats that morning was completely unacceptable and that Republican lawmakers wouldn’t even bother sending back a counterproposal.
“They know better. They are demanding things that have already been rejected,” he said. “So it seems like they’re going around in circles.”
Thune said the chamber would later vote on a funding bill for DHS that would not include enforcement and deportation activities at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency’s deportation and detention arm.
“They said over the weekend that they didn’t want to fund ERO. They would fund anything else,” he said. “That’s why we will give the opportunity to vote for it.”
Thune said Republicans’ decision to eliminate funding for these deportation programs represents a “significant” compromise that shows Republican lawmakers are “coming to the table and trying to reach an agreement.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the offer sent by Democrats represents “a reasonable, good-faith proposal that contains some of the same demands that Democrats have been talking about for months now.”
Schumer said a proposal Republicans submitted earlier this week did not include any of the immigration overhauls made by Democrats talk about it since January, when federal officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
“The Republicans sending us a proposal that contains no reforms is also bad faith and will only slow things down,” he said.
Trump “pretty unhappy” with “any deal”
President Donald Trump remains a wild card in the negotiations. His support will be needed for a DHS funding bill to become law, regardless of how long it takes lawmakers to reach consensus.
“Well, I don’t want to comment until I see the deal,” he said Tuesday when asked about the ongoing DHS talks. “But as you know, they’re negotiating a deal. I guess they’re getting pretty close. But I think any deal they make I’m pretty unhappy with.”
When asked about those comments during a press conference Wednesday morning, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., appeared skeptical about cutting some items in the DHS funding bill.
Any legislation to end the shutdown passed by the Senate must pass the House of Representatives before it can reach Trump’s desk.
“We always fund Homeland as a whole department. There are obvious reasons for that. It’s very important. I don’t think we need to split it up,” he said. “And I think that’s what the president is expressing here. He wants Congress to do its damn job.”
Will Congress leave town without a deal?
It’s not clear whether the Senate will still leave for its two-week spring break without a bipartisan agreement on funding for DHS, which has been closed since Feb. 14.
Without the support of at least 60 senators, legislation cannot advance in this chamber, which is why support from every party is crucial to ending the shutdown.
Thune said he hasn’t made a final decision yet but appears likely to let lawmakers go home for the planned recess unless progress is made toward an agreement.
“If we’re not here and the Democrats are willing to make a deal, we’ll certainly get everyone to vote on it,” he said. “But there are no decisions on that yet. Hopefully the next few days will be productive.”
Until an agreement is reached, the loss of DHS funding will continue to impact workers and programs operated by many agencies within the department, including the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection operations have continued largely uninterrupted since Republicans approved tens of billions additional financing for these agencies in their “big, beautiful” law.
“We have a lot to do”
Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford said lawmakers need to find a solution to funding DHS after weeks of gridlock.
“Ultimately we had to open it,” he said. “And the frustration we have is that literally three days ago we offered them what they asked for, and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Oh no, no, we have new stuff.'”
Lankford said he doesn’t want senators to go into recess without an agreement to reopen DHS.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said lawmakers should stay on Capitol Hill until they resolve at least some of the several outstanding issues.
“We have a lot going on. And I’m afraid if we leave until we have some certainty around them, a few of them will fall to the ground and people will wonder what’s going on,” he said.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said the way the Trump administration approached immigration enforcement and deportations led to the DHS funding problems.
“I have a constitutional responsibility to only fund a government that abides by the law,” he said. “Without reform, I would be breaking my oath of office to fund ICE.”
Moreno and Merkley compete against each other
Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno took the floor that evening and asked for unanimous consent to pass a bill that would fund all components of DHS for two weeks and provide back pay to all employees.
Moreno said this would give senators enough time to work out a bipartisan agreement on DHS’s full-year spending bill if they canceled recess and stayed at work.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley suggested that lawmakers instead fund the TSA through the end of September, when the current fiscal year ends.
Moreno then asked Merkley to amend that request to fund all DHS agencies except enforcement and removal operations for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Merkley then said he would agree to fund every agency within DHS except ICE and CBP.
“He continually calls for funding Customs and Border Protection without changing their behavior across the country,” Merkley said. “He continually calls for ICE to be funded without changing their practices because they behave like a secret police force.”
During a nearly hour-long exchange that was tense at several points, senators were unable to agree on approving funding for any of DHS’s agencies for an extended period of time.
Moreno said the impasse was “a sad day for the U.S. Senate.”
Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.
