House Races to End Partial Shutdown

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will begin work to pass a Senate bill to fund the government as multiple agencies remain in a partial shutdown.

Several sectors of the government entered a partial shutdown just after midnight on Saturday despite the Senate’s passage of legislation hours earlier to prevent it. The shutdown is affecting the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security.

The House will begin work to send the Senate-passed legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk as employees in the affected agencies begin shutdown procedures. Non-essential employees in the affected agencies will be furloughed until funding is restored.

The House Rules Committee will take up the measure—which would extend Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for two weeks while providing full-year authorizations for the other five departments affected—around 4:00 p.m. local time, with a vote of the full House to follow on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he is “confident” that the partial shutdown will end with the Tuesday vote despite indicating that House Democrats aren’t giving their support to the Senate-passed measure.

“We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town, and because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own,” Johnson told NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

House Democratic leadership has not indicated support for the measure publicly, despite it having been backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Senate Democrats. 

It “is clear … that the Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told ABC News’ “This Week.” 

“Masks should come off,” he said. “Judicial warrants should absolutely be required consistent with the Constitution, in our view, before DHS agents or ICE agents are breaking into the homes of the American people or ripping people out of their cars.”

Under the Senate plan, reforms like this would be considered later as part of a full-year funding package for DHS. 

If Democrats don’t back the compromise measure, Johnson will need to rely on the narrow House Republican majority to push the measure over the finish line. Currently, he can spare only a single defection. 

However, that could face challenges as some members have expressed skepticism toward the Senate proposal. 

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Rules Committee, has been critical of the bill in comments to Fox News. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another member of the Rules Committee, has also been critical of Democrats’ demands, suggesting that their proposals won’t be able to clear the House. 

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is a longtime budget hawk—and a particular opponent of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is covered by DHS. Massie voted against the previous funding measure due to its funding for CISA, and could oppose the stopgap measure as well. 

Despite these warning signs, Johnson has retained a posture of confidence, telling “Fox News Sunday” that Trump—who retains strong sway in the House—is “leading this.” 

“It’s his play call to do it this way,” Johnson said, adding that Trump has “already conceded that he wants to turn down the volume” on federal immigration issues.

The Senate passed the altered funding package in a 71–29 vote on Friday evening following hours of hurried negotiations on Capitol Hill involving members of both parties.

Under the new legislation, full-year funding will be authorized for all agencies in the package except the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Instead, the legislation punts the deadline for this funding forward two weeks to give lawmakers time to work through negotiations to amend the full-year funding for the agency.

The vote came less than a day after Democrats and the White House announced the deal. After the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, Senate Democrats said they would not support funding for DHS without changes to certain immigration enforcement practices.

Trump has urged Congress to pass the bipartisan compromise.

“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before),” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 29. “Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”

—Joseph Lord

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