Congressional Deadlock Extends DHS Shutdown Despite Trump TSA Order

House Republicans Block Senate Deal

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 44th day Friday night as House Republicans rejected a Senate-passed funding bill and passed their own eight-week proposal that has no viable path forward. In a 213-203 vote, Speaker Mike Johnson and his House Republicans voted Friday night to effectively jam the Senate with their plan, fully funding DHS for eight weeks – including with border and immigration money that the prior deal left out.

Speaker Johnson dismissed the Senate bill as "a joke" , despite it passing unanimously in the Republican-controlled upper chamber. The Senate voted unanimously early Friday to reopen the Department of Homeland Security after a 40-day shutdown, but without funding for immigration enforcement and deportation operations. The measure, passed unanimously early Friday after a marathon session, still needs to get through the Republican-led House before it can get to Trump's desk.

The House plan has no obvious path to passage in the Senate, where lawmakers have already left Washington for a planned recess. The Senate left Washington for a two-week recess after passing its bill early Friday morning, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) deemed the stopgap bill "dead on arrival" in the upper chamber.

Airport Crisis Deepens

The political standoff has created a mounting crisis at airports nationwide during peak spring break travel season. More than 480 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown , while the call-out rate for Transportation Security Administration officers was 11.83% yesterday, which was the highest number of the DHS shutdown so far, translating to more than 3,450 personnel taking off work.

"We are really concerned about our security posture and what the long term impacts of this shutdown is going to have on the workforce and our ability to carry out this mission," TSA acting administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers. Multiple airports have been experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers , creating hours-long security lines at major hubs including Houston, Atlanta, and Baltimore.

Trump Steps In With Executive Action

President Trump took executive action Friday to address the immediate TSA crisis, ordering newly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to resume paying TSA employees. In a statement Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said TSA workers "should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday."

Johnson, at a news conference, doubled down on the House's rejection of the Senate's plan, saying he had spoken to Trump "a few moments ago" and that Trump supported the plan. "He understands exactly what we're doing and why," Johnson said of the president , indicating White House backing for the House GOP strategy.

Deep Divisions Over Immigration Enforcement

The shutdown centers on a fundamental disagreement over immigration enforcement funding. For weeks, Democrats have refused to support funding for DHS after federal officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. The Senate deal, which passed unanimously, would fund the bulk of DHS but does not include Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. That exclusion won over Democrats but outraged House Republicans, who rejected it outright.

The impasse leaves both chambers at odds with no clear resolution in sight. Both chambers of Congress are now out on a two-week recess. While Trump's TSA funding order may ease immediate airport disruptions, the broader shutdown affecting thousands of federal workers continues with no end date, potentially setting a new record for the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.