Trump signs bill funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ending record shutdown

The Department of Homeland Security logo during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump swiftly signed bipartisan legislation Thursday funding much of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but not its immigration enforcement operations, after it won final approval in the House, ending the longest agency shutdown in history.

The White House had warned that temporary funding Trump had tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel would “soon run out,” and that sparked new threats of disruptions for travelers at airport. DHS has been without routine funds since Feb. 14, causing hardship for workers, though much of Trump’s immigration agenda that is central to the dispute is being funded separately.

The package had languished in the House, despite being approved without opposition last month in the Senate, as Republicans revolted, forcing a separate path for the immigration funds. Once that launched this week, it cleared the way to fund the rest of homeland security, whose employees risked lost paycheques in May.

“It is about damn time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bipartisan bill more than 70 days ago.

The House swiftly voted by voice earlier Thursday, without a formal roll call, to pass the measure. It brought an abrupt end to the standoff that began months ago after Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis launched a reckoning on Capitol Hill over the money being sent to fuel the president’s agenda.

The movement in Congress comes as DHS is under intense scrutiny after Trump ousted Kristi Noem as the department’s leader, installing Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin in the middle of the shutdown. The agency counts some 260,000 employees, across TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA and other operations.

Many workers have endured repeated turmoil with potential furloughs and missed paychecks in May as the congressional stalemate dragged on. This shutdown came on the heels of last year’s governmentwide closure, which itself had set a record at 43 days. Countless employees have struggled with bills or simply quit their jobs.

• READ MORE: U.S. Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security Department
• READ MORE: Republican leaders in Congress announce plan to end Homeland Security shutdown

Trump’s deportation strategy fueled the dispute

In the aftermath of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, by federal agents during protests against the immigration actions in Minneapolis, Democrats refused to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol without changes to those operations.

At the same time, Republicans would not go along with a plan pushed by Democrats to fund TSA and the other parts of DHS without the money for ICE and Border Patrol. They insisted that immigration operations must not be zeroed out.

After the shutdown intensified, with hours long lines at airport security screening, the Senate unanimously approved the bipartisan package in a middle of the night vote a month ago. Then the bill languished in the House.

Johnson, R-La., himself had called the legislation a “joke.”

To break the impasse, Republican leaders in both the House and Senate decided to tackle the immigration enforcement funding on their own through what is called budget reconciliation, a cumbersome weekslong process ahead.

By beginning that path, Johnson was able to unlock the broader bipartisan bill for the rest of DHS. House Republicans late Wednesday adopted a budget resolution, on a largely party-line vote, that focused on eventually providing US$70 billion for immigration enforcement and deportations for the remainder of Trump’s time in office. His term expires in January 2029.

Johnson acknowledged on Thursday that while he had trashed the bipartisan bill before, the new budget process ensure that the immigration money eventually will flow “with no crazy Democrat reforms.”

“We threw a fit,” the speaker said. “We had to.”

But not all Republicans were pleased. During the quick floor action Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said isolating the immigration-related money on a separate track is “offensive to the men and women who serve in ICE and Border Patrol, and are serving this country every single day.”

• READ MORE: U.S. Homeland Security shutdown will likely stretch into next week as House weighs Senate’s funding plan
• READ MORE: Airport disruptions abound as U.S. senators chase deal to end Homeland Security budget standoff

White House warns paycheques at risk, again

The White House had urged Congress this week to act, warning that the money Trump tapped to temporarily pay TSA and other workers through executive actions was drying up.

Immigration enforcement workers have largely been paid through the flush of new cash -- some US$170 billion -- that Congress approved as part of Trump’s tax cuts bill last year. Others, including at the TSA, have had to rely on Trump’s intervention through executive action to ensure their paycheques. Most of its employees are considered essential and have remained on the job.

But with salaries topping a combined US$1.6 billion every two weeks, Mullin said recently that the money was dwindling.

On Thursday, he said in a social media post that the shutdown “NEVER should have happened.”

More than 1,000 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, the U.S. airlines trade group that on Wednesday called on Congress to fully fund the Cabinet department.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said while workers are “pleased that Congress finally stepped up to do their jobs and fund DHS, it is unacceptable that it took them this long to do so.”

He said “federal employees are not political pawns. They are not leverage. They are Americans --- and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

• READ MORE: Trump signs executive action to pay TSA employees after Congress fails to agree on DHS funding
• READ MORE: Democrats, White House narrow in on tentative spending deal that would avert government shutdown

Complicated budget strategy ahead

The go-it-alone strategy under the budget resolution process is the same that was used last year to approve Trump’s tax cuts bill, which all Democrats opposed.

With the budget resolution now adopted by the House and Senate, lawmakers will next draft the actual US$70 billion ICE and Border Patrol funding bill, with voting expected in May.

Trump has said he wants it on his desk by June 1.

• READ MORE: Democrats, White House narrow in on tentative spending deal that would avert government shutdown
• READ MORE: No clear path to ending the partial U.S. government shutdown as lawmakers dig in over DHS oversight

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Associated Press writer Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press