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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is increasing the pressure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Democrats in the upper chamber as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown unexpectedly enters its sixth week.
House GOP leaders are poised to hold votes Thursday on two bills aimed at putting Democrats in a shutdown, Fox News Digital said.
Johnson is getting a third House vote to fund DHS until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The bill is based on a bipartisan agreement made earlier this year, but Democrats walked away from it in their majority against President Donald Trump’s strategy to fight illegal immigration.
The second step is a non-binding decision led by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., expressing support for all DHS agencies.
DHS SHUTDOWN IS SECOND COSTLY AS DEMS AND ALLOWS FUNDING Amid Airport Chaos, TERRORISM ISSUES
Speaker Mike Johnson is putting pressure on Senate Democrats for two votes related to the DHS shutdown. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP; Allison Robbert/AP Photo)
It comes as DHS closes, now 38 day, wreaking havoc on air travelers across the country. Major airports in Houston, New Orleans, New York City, and elsewhere are seeing hours-long delays caused by a shortage of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, as dozens of TSA agents are out of work amid missing pay due to the shutdown.
TSA agents are poised to miss their payments this Friday, the second full pay period missed by the ongoing shutdown.
TSA is one of several agencies that work under DHS, along with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among others.
RELATED: HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO HOLD HEARING ON RISKS CLOSED AT DHS AMID TRIP
“Anyone who waited hours to miss their flights will not soon be forgotten, and Republicans will continue to remind the American people that Democrats are putting their safety at risk to protect illegal criminals,” a House GOP leadership aide told Fox News Digital on Monday.
“The problem with the Democrats in their latest shutdown is that they are hurting American citizens in an effort to protect illegal criminals and open our border, as evidenced by their words and the bills they are pushing to defund Customs and Border Patrol.”
Travelers wait in long security lines at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in March 2026. (Lekan Oyekanmi/AP Photo)
Discussions about DHS funding have ground to a halt with Republicans rejecting key demands from Democrats for ICE and CBP reforms — particularly requiring judicial powers to enforce immigration enforcement and barring agents from wearing face masks — as non-starters.
Trump also recently challenged the debate by demanding that Republicans not accept any offer from Democrats until leftist lawmakers agree to advance an unrelated election integrity measure called the SAVE America Act.
In the Senate, at least a majority of Democrats are needed to defeat a filibuster and advance any DHS funding legislation.
The House, operating with a bare majority, passed the first DHS bill in Congress’ first round of negotiations — and will likely do so for the third time Thursday.
The third iteration of this bill is led by Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.
“This disagreement has been going on for a long time,” Ciscomani told Fox News Digital on Monday. “The men and women who keep our country safe here at home are an essential part of our country’s security – they need to be paid, now. These workers should not be caught in the middle of political games, yet that’s what happened. It’s a shame.”
The United States Capitol building is seen in Washington, DC, United States on Dec. 2, 2024. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A non-binding resolution honoring DHS is also likely to pass, but it’s unclear how much Democratic support it will get.
“Instead of joining the bipartisan majority in supporting full funding for DHS, including commonsense reforms like body cameras and de-escalation training, Democratic leadership is afraid of the ‘Defund ICE’ movement and is unwilling to compromise to protect the American people,” Mackenzie told Fox News Digital. “This situation is unacceptable, it must end immediately.”
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Democrats have tried to push through legislation to fund DHS without agencies related to Trump’s crackdown on immigration, efforts that have been shunned by the GOP.
Both Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., argued that ICE’s controversial operations in Minneapolis and other green cities are reason enough to block any proposal to fund more immigration operations.
