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  "path": "/news/senate-passes-budget-plan-fund-ice-border-patrol-effort-reopen-homeland-security",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-23T09:55:04.000Z",
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    "article",
    "GOP leaders move to end Homeland Security shutdown",
    "National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend to proceed despite partial shutdown",
    "Trump White House Ballroom: Judge who halted construction allows national security work to continue",
    "Who will Trump fire next? Cabinet shakeup could expand, source tells Fox News"
  ],
  "textContent": "The Senate moved early Thursday to advance a plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, voting to approve a budget measure that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House.\n\nThe department has been shut down since mid‑February as Democrats pushed for policy changes following the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents.\n\nRepublicans are now seeking to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through budget reconciliation, the same process they used last year to pass President Donald Trump’s tax and spending package without Democratic support.\n\n\"We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,\" said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D, according to the Associated Press.\n\nRELATED: GOP leaders move to end Homeland Security shutdown\n\nReconciliation requires only a simple majority, allowing Republicans to bypass the 60‑vote threshold needed for most legislation.\n\nThe process, however, brings heightened scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and lengthy rounds of amendment votes.\n\nThe Senate began voting Wednesday evening and continued into early Thursday, with Democrats offering amendments aimed at lowering health care and other household costs to contrast with Republicans’ focus on immigration enforcement.\n\n\"Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs,\" said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.\n\nThe Senate approved the final resolution 50‑48 shortly after 3:30 a.m.\n\n## **Long effort to reopen Homeland Security**\n\nOnce the House approves the budget framework and the Senate parliamentarian signs off, both chambers can move to pass the measure.\n\nThe Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but House Republican leaders say they will not take up that bill until the Senate shows progress on funding ICE and Border Patrol as well.\n\nREAD MORE: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend to proceed despite partial shutdown\n\nThe $70 billion budget resolution would fund the two agencies for three years, through the remainder of Trump’s term.\n\nThune and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and send it to Trump in the coming weeks, alongside the broader Homeland Security funding package already approved by the Senate.\n\nThat may prove difficult as many Republicans view the budget bill as their last major opportunity this year to advance other priorities.\n\nRepublican lawmakers in both chambers have pushed to add provisions including aid for farmers and Trump’s proof‑of‑citizenship voting proposal, known as the SAVE America Act.\n\nSen. John Kennedy, R‑La., briefly stalled the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other legislation.\n\nHe later withdrew his objections, allowing the voting to continue.\n\n## **Democrats push for reforms at ICE, Border Patrol after shootings**\n\nDemocrats say any Homeland Security funding bill should include new restraints on federal immigration authorities, including clearer identification for officers and greater reliance on judicial warrants.\n\nAfter federal agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, Trump agreed to a Democratic request to separate the Homeland Security bill from a larger spending package that later became law.\n\nREAD MORE: Trump White House Ballroom: Judge who halted construction allows national security work to continue\n\nBut bipartisan talks stalled, and DHS funding expired without an agreement on changes to the administration’s enforcement tactics.\n\nIn March, the Senate passed legislation by voice vote to fund the rest of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration, as airport security lines grew longer.\n\nThe bill would have separated ICE and Border Patrol from the broader package.\n\nHouse Republicans refused to consider it, saying they would not support any measure that excluded immigration enforcement funding.\n\nCongress then left for a two‑week recess, leaving the issue unresolved.\n\nTrump has used executive orders to pay some department salaries in the meantime, but the future of those paychecks remains uncertain.\n\n## **Potential roadblocks**\n\nDuring the congressional recess, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a two‑track strategy to move the Senate’s broader Homeland Security funding bill through regular order, while using a party‑line measure to pass funding for ICE and CBP.\n\nWeeks later, Johnson has not said when the House will take up the Senate bill that would fund most of the department.\n\nIt also remains unclear whether House Republicans will unite behind the narrower budget measure, as some members have pushed to add other priorities.\n\nREAD MORE: Who will Trump fire next? Cabinet shakeup could expand, source tells Fox News\n\nJohnson said this week that the order in which the two bills move is important, noting that House Republicans do not want the rest of the department funded without ICE and Border Patrol.\n\nThune warned after the Senate vote that other parts of the Homeland Security Department could run out of money before Congress completes the lengthy budget process to fund the two enforcement agencies.\n\nHe said he hopes the Senate’s adoption of the budget resolution signals to the House that Republicans intend to follow through.\n\n\"We'll see what they can do with it,\" Thune said. \"And if they can't, I guess we will go to the next plan.\"",
  "title": "Senate passes budget plan to fund ICE, Border Patrol in effort to reopen Homeland Security"
}