Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson torpedoed a GOP-led deal passed in the Senate to reopen the Department of Homeland Security and end the crisis at the nation’s airports — all but calling his upper-chamber counterpart John Thune powerless, in the process.
“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson said Friday after a protracted phone call with members of the House Republican conference.
“The Republicans are not going to be part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” he told reporters. “We are going to deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens, because it is a basic function of the government. The Democrats fundamentally disagree.”
Johnson said his caucus would instead seek to pass a continuing resolution bill to fund the entire department at current levels until May 22. He said he had spoken with President Donald Trump about the plan and that the president “supports it.”
Trump later echoed the support to Fox News.
“The whole thing is about the Democrats wanting to have open borders, no ICE, no border patrol, these people are crazy,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, the Senate passed by voice vote a bill to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security with the exception of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. That came as Democrats had hoped to include some safeguards on the authority of ICE and border patrol in the wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by ICE and CBP officers, respectively.
Trump afterwards wasted no time and signed a promised executive action to pay TSA employees, in a bid toe ease the pain caused by hours-long security lines at many of the nation’s top airports the past week.
“America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments.
Funding lapsed in February, leading to chaos at airlines and Trump deciding to send ICE agents to airports. On Fried, Trump signed an executive order to allow Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA agents amid the shutdown.
But Johnson excoriated the legislation and said he did not believe that Republicans could agreed to such a measure.
“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” he said. “I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.”
Johnson has instead said that the House will hold a vote on a stopgap spending bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security open until May 22.
Still, many of the senators have already left Washington, heading home for the Passover and Easter recess. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outright rejected the Johnson proposal.
“We’ve been clear from day one: Democrats will fund critical Homeland Security functions — but we will not give a blank check to Trump’s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms,” Schumer said in a statement.
In addition, Johnson stopped short of criticizing Senate Majority Leader John Thune, but also implied that the Republican leader had lost control of the Senate. Rather, he blamed Schumer.
“I wouldn't call John Thune the engineer of this,” Johnson said. “Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate. I have to protect the House and I have to protect the American people.”
The agreement brokered by the Senate also infuriated many conservatives in the conference, including the hardliner House Freedom Caucus, who had hoped to attach the SAVE America Act, their legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. This came despite the fact that voter fraud is minimal and not as widespread as Trump or the Republicans say it is.
The House Rules Committee will now meet later on Friday to begin deliberation on the legislation. But even if it would pass, there is no guarantee that the Senate would even take up the legislation. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Susan Collins of Maine hope to use the recess time to campaign as they are up for re-election.
Regardless of whether the legislation passes, ICE will continue to receive funding thanks to the fact that Republicans gave the agency $75 billion in last year’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act legislation.
