Senate Majority Leader John Thune set a deadline of next week for resolving the Homeland Security Department funding standoff, as Senate appropriators of both parties held a face-to-face meeting Thursday with White House “border czar” Tom Homan.
Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the meeting — the first of its kind since the department’s partial shutdown began a month ago — was a “pretty big deal and a recognition that we need to get this resolved.” He also threatened to curtail a scheduled two-week spring recess in early April if there was still no deal by then.
“It needs to get resolved by the end of next week,” Thune told reporters. “I can’t see us taking a break if the government’s still shut down.”
