The House voted on Thursday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, putting an end to a record shutdown of the agency that had been in place since February 14.
The Associated Press noted that the White House had warned that temporary funding used to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel was close to running out, potentially leading to new airport disruptions. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin had warned that thousands of workers were at risk of not being paid if funds ran out.
President Donald Trump had been urging lawmakers to pass the bill and vowed to sign it into law. Now DHS will reopen, but there won't be any additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Border Patrol as Democrats demand changes in the way the are conducting immigration enforcement. Now Republicans will seek to fund the agencies separately.
The passing of the bill means that Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service will be funded through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
House Speaker Mike Johnson allowed the vote to move forward after seeing progress on the funding of ICE and CBP, according to NBC News. Concretely, the House adopted a budget resolution creating a path for the agencies to be funded for the remainder of Trump's term. It instructs congressional committees to draft bills and authorize $70 billion in payments.
"I think having passed our budget resolution yesterday was a very important step, and we have to absolutely make sure those two critical agencies of immigration enforcement and border are fully funded, and Republicans have to do that on our own," he told press.
Johnson also took on Democrats, saying they "got absolutely nothing for their political charades and shenanigans." He went on to say that developments show why his party is going to "win the midterms so that grown-ups can stay in charge here."
