GOP Leaders Announce Two-Track Deal to End Record 47-Day DHS Shutdown and Fund Immigration Enforcement for Three Years

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson have agreed to a two-track approach to end the 47-day DHS shutdown — the longest in American history. Track one: pass the Senate’s clean DHS funding bill immediately. Track two: use budget reconciliation to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years. The deal breaks weeks of deadlock but faces resistance from both flanks.

It took 47 days, record TSA wait times, furloughed FEMA workers, a Secret Service staffing crisis, and a president who called the Senate bill a “joke” — but the two most powerful Republicans in Congress have finally agreed on a way to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

The deal

The agreement, announced jointly by Thune and Johnson on Wednesday evening, splits the problem in two. Track one is clean funding: the House will vote on the Senate’s DHS appropriations bill, which funds most of the department at current levels but strips funding for ICE deportation operations and Border Patrol expansion — provisions that Democrats refused to support. This gets DHS open and its 240,000 employees back to work.

Track two is reconciliation. Republicans will use the budget reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate, to pass a separate bill funding ICE and Border Patrol at enhanced levels for three years. This avoids the 60-vote filibuster threshold that has blocked immigration enforcement funding in the regular appropriations process. Trump has privately signed off on the approach, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The math

Track one should pass. The Senate already approved its bill 71–22. In the House, it will need Democratic votes since perhaps 30–40 hardline Republicans will oppose any bill that does not include full ICE funding. But Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has indicated Democrats will provide the votes to reopen DHS, provided Johnson allows a clean vote without poison-pill amendments.

Track two is harder. Reconciliation bills must comply with the Byrd Rule, which limits their content to provisions with budgetary impact. Immigration enforcement funding qualifies, but any policy riders — mandatory E-Verify, asylum restrictions, border wall authorisation — would likely be struck by the Senate parliamentarian. Hardliners want those riders. Without them, some may refuse to vote for the reconciliation bill, leaving Johnson dependent on near-unanimous Republican support.

The timeline

Thune said the House would vote on the clean bill “within 48 hours” and that the reconciliation bill would be ready “before Memorial Day.” If that timeline holds, DHS could reopen by Friday and the immigration enforcement package could pass by late May.

But timelines in this Congress have been suggestions, not commitments. The shutdown has already lasted three times longer than any previous DHS closure. The deal is progress. Whether it becomes law depends on whether the Republican Party can hold together long enough to pass two bills instead of fighting endlessly over one.