Congress Passes Bill Funding Most DHS Agencies, Ending 76-Day Shutdown

President Trump signed a bill on Thursday to fund most agencies of the Department of Homeland Security, ending a 76-day shutdown. The House approved the funding package by a voice vote on Thursday, providing appropriations for 20 DHS agencies through the end of the fiscal year. S.

U.S. Secret Service. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol did not receive funding in this bill. Those agencies obtained funding from Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, maintaining operations during the shutdown.

The Senate advanced the funding measure one month before Thursday and passed it unanimously in March. The shutdown began on February 14 after Senate Democrats filibustered a full DHS funding bill, seeking an overhaul of immigration enforcement agencies.

Democrats demanded reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, including a mask ban, judicial warrant reform, and a universal code of conduct.

U.S. citizens were fatally shot in Minnesota by federal agents. House Republicans are working to enact tens of billions of dollars to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years through a reconciliation process, which bypasses the Senate’s filibuster requirement.

The House voted Thursday to adopt a budget resolution unlocking this process, instructing the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees in both chambers to draft legislation by May 15 providing up to $75 billion for those agencies. President Trump wants the reconciliation bill on his desk by June 1.

” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that the department would run out of emergency funding at the end of the month to pay workers during the shutdown, per President Trump’s April 3 executive order.

The White House issued a memo earlier this week asking House Republicans to immediately clear the partial DHS funding bill. The administration has been using existing funds since early April to cover six weeks of back pay and a new pay period for DHS employees. DHS has more than 200,000 personnel.

House Republican leaders insisted earlier this week that the Senate-passed bill had a technical problem making it impossible for them to support it. Separately, a gunman attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington last week. The event is held annually at the Washington Hilton and draws about 2,500 attendees.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, argued during a press conference that the ballroom should have security infrastructure built with public funds, and his bill would authorize $400 million for the project. Graham said, “Private donations can be used, but I think they should be used for buying china and stuff like that.

Underneath this ballroom will be infrastructure that is national security-centric. ” Sen. ” Hoeven added, “I think it’s great that President Trump raised the money to do it. I think that’s great. It’s like a gift to the taxpayers and the country.

” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said, “Saturday night was a security failure. It was also a success that no one was injured. Thank God. But we have got to understand what the glitches were and what led that to happen.

And so before, ‘Oh, this thing happened, let’s just throw a whole bunch of public money at the ballroom,’ let’s get an investigation about what happened and what went wrong, and then we can decide, do we have to invest more to keep the president safe? Is the ballroom the right answer? ” Sen.

” President Trump signed multiple executive orders including one to expand retirement account access for workers on April 30, 2026, in the Oval Office. S. Capitol on April 28, 2026.