DHS funding talks stall as airport chaos worsens
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown as DHS remains without funding. Democrats continue to push for ICE reform as airports lose more workers.
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The Senate was again unable to end the Homeland Security shutdown on Thursday despite signs of a possible breakthrough to end the long-running closure, which prompted President Donald Trump to make a move.
Senate Democrats blocked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for a seventh time as the partial shutdown entered its 41st day on Thursday, after Senate Republicans made a new offer earlier in the day after late night negotiations.
Trump then ordered DHS to pay airport workers on, and accused “their ‘Leader,’ Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” of making it clear where Democrats stand, “and that is, ON THE SIDE OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS, AND NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
“I am going to sign an Order instructing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation, and to quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!”
Still, several other components of the agency, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are still without funding.
DEMS BLOCK DHS FUNDING AFTER GOP REJECTS THEIR COUNTER, THUNE SAYS SCHUMER ‘GOING IN CIRCLES’
US President Donald Trump walks to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 23, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
The vote stayed open for several hours to allow for talks between both sides to continue, but by the fifth hour, Trump pulled the trigger on funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“We’ve held the vote open for five hours to give the Democrats an opportunity to come to the table,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told reporters. “They have not. And now, time is up.”
Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he believed talks between the two sides are making progress.
And despite Thune saying just a day earlier that there was “no point” in sending Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats another compromise proposal, Republicans did just that.
“Dems are in possession of what I think is our last and final [offer],” Thune said. “So let’s hope this gets it done.”
Thune remained mum on the details of the offer. When asked if the White House backed it, he said, “They’ve been involved in the back-and-forth that has occurred overnight and all morning, so we’ll see.”
DHS DEAL IN LIMBO AS DEMOCRATS DEMAND TOUGHER ICE CRACKDOWN DESPITE GOP COMPROMISE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats rejected Republicans’ latest deal to reopen DHS. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Several Senate Democrats leaving their closed-door lunch meeting said they had yet to see or be briefed on the latest proposal, and that the GOP’s new offer wasn’t discussed during the meeting.
A source familiar with negotiations told Fox News Digital that, “Schumer needs to grow a pair of balls and make a decision.”
The quick shift in mood in the upper chamber, despite the latest failure, came after the prospect of a deal to end the second-longest shutdown in history appeared even further out of reach.
Republicans had offered Democrats a framework that would carve out Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding but lacked the reforms Schumer and his caucus want.
“I think our caucus remains united around the same premise: we’re not going to fund an immigration enforcement operation that doesn’t obey the law,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “And I don’t think we’ve seen a proposal from them yet that meets that very simple priority.”
SENATE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, WAIT FOR DEMOCRATIC BUY-IN
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that Republicans had made what was likely their “final” offer to Democrats to reopen DHS. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The ICE carve-out is also a proposal Democrats have made before — one Republicans previously blocked. Given that, many Senate Republicans were frustrated that Democrats appeared to back away from an idea they once supported.
“They go on the floor, they shoot their mouths off and say we’ll fund everything but ICE,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. “We took them at their word. So, you know, they need to agree to ‘yes.’”
It has also forced Republicans to grapple with the idea of not funding immigration enforcement, which has been a sore subject throughout the week.
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Still, they are eyeing budget reconciliation — the same party-line tactic used to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year — to fund immigration operations and several other priorities.
“I will not support legislation that doesn’t pay ICE agents. However, there’s a mechanism, by way of reconciliation, where we can front-load multiple years of that,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats, I think, just handed us more certainty moving forward.”
