President Donald Trump and GOP leaders united behind a plan Wednesday to end the record-breaking partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, committing themselves to a two-track strategy that includes passing a reconciliation bill for immigration enforcement funding by June 1.
With the shutdown stretching into its seventh week and pressure growing to pay DHS workers, Trump rallied behind a Senate plan that envisioned passing a filibuster-proof reconciliation bill to provide immigration enforcement funding that Democrats have rejected.
The move could convince House Republicans to revisit a Senate-passed proposal that would fund all of the department except for the two immigration agencies at the heart of the conflict: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, which is home to the Border Patrol. That plan, which the House set aside in favor of an eight-week funding extension, could gain new life with the assurance that more money for immigration enforcement would be coming through reconciliation.
