Senate Sends DHS Funding Bill to the House

WASHINGTON – The Senate sent its deal to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security back to the House Thursday morning – marking what should be the beginning of the end of a historic partial government shutdown. Details from reporter Bernie Bennett.

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The Senate’s action, taken in a mostly empty chamber just after 7 a.m., came less than a day after President Donald Trump effectively endorsed a two-track strategy for DHS: funding most of it through a bipartisan deal with Democrats then using the party-line budget reconciliation process for immigration enforcement activities.

Now the bill is headed back across the Capitol. The Senate approved Thune’s motion Thursday to set aside the House’s plan, an eight-week all-DHS stopgap, and instead give it a second chance to pass the Senate bill, which omits funding for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection that Democrats oppose.

Asked Thursday how he revived the deal, Thune said, “You … have to just continue to define reality for people, what’s achievable in the Senate, what we can get done.”

Bernie Bennett, Washington.