DHS shutdown drags on after House passes 'dead on arrival' bill

Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY Sat, March 28, 2026 at 4:25 AM UTC

0

WASHINGTON – Despite recent momentum in Congress, political infighting among Republicans on Capitol Hill means the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is far from over – and could even drag on until mid-April.

The House of Representatives on March 27 passed a stopgap funding bill for the agency largely along party lines, 213-203. But without support from Democrats, the legislation is already "dead on arrival," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, declared earlier in the day. That means it has virtually no chance of becoming law because it does not have enough votes to pass in the Senate.

Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate has yet to abandon a scheduled two-week congressional recess for Easter and Passover. With senators already gone, and House lawmakers eager to leave town as well, it's not clear when the shutdown could end.

Its effects on airport lines may be softened, though, after President Trump signed an order without the help of Congress to reroute money to compensate TSA workers amid the crisis. Those employees could start receiving paychecks as early as Monday, March 30, Homeland Security said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Read more: Furious House Republicans reject DHS funding bill, upending shutdown deal

The doomed measure's passage after a House GOP revolt sealed the fate of short-lived optimism on Capitol Hill that a bipartisan Senate deal reached overnight would yield a swift end to a shutdown that has upended airport security lines over the past six weeks.

1 / 0ICE agents appear at airports as TSA delays snarl check-in

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, March 23, 2026. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were ordered to deploy to airports to help fill TSA staffing gaps across the country.

Read more: Trump signs order to pay TSA workers with no DHS shutdown end in sight

The legislative ping-ponging came amid intensifying pressure on Congress in recent days to do something. Bitter divisions among House and Senate Republicans, however, ultimately sank the Senate's attempt to bring the impasse to an end.

Advertisement

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media on March 27, 2026.

The upper chamber's solution, which was agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats in the early morning hours, would have fully funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Both divisions already have been operating with massive cash reserves provided to them under President Trump's megabill that Republicans in Congress approved last year.

Read more: Homeland Security shutdown breaks GOP divisions in Congress wide open

Yet House Republicans denounced their Senate counterparts' shutdown exit strategy, saying they couldn't be seen as defunding immigration enforcement in any way. Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minnesota, said the Senate's off-ramp was "not a solution."

"It's a Swiss-cheese funding bill defined by its holes and deficiencies," she said.

It's not entirely clear what happens next. Neither Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune nor Schumer, his Democratic equal, have shown any alacrity as of yet to cancel recess. Thune didn't publicly address the barrage of criticisms from Johnson's membership on Friday.

House and Senate Democrats, meanwhile, insisted that the easiest and quickest way to end the shutdown would be for the House to pass the Senate compromise.

"We all know that the Senate bill is the exit ramp," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts. "So take it."

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DHS shutdown drags on after House passes 'dead on arrival' bill

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”