DHS Funding Bill Clears Senate, Advances to House

After six weeks of a partial government shutdown that left 50,000 TSA screeners working without pay and sent airport wait times soaring past two hours at major hubs, the Senate broke through before dawn on March 27 with a voice vote approving funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security — but not for ICE or Border Patrol [1][2]. The bill now faces steep opposition in the House, where the Freedom Caucus has declared it dead on arrival [3].

The deal marks the end of one standoff and the start of another. It funds eight of DHS's ten component agencies while leaving the two most politically charged — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol — to be addressed through a separate reconciliation vehicle [4]. The split reflects a Congress unable to agree on immigration enforcement even as the human cost of the shutdown mounted daily.

What the Bill Funds — and What It Doesn't

The Senate-passed measure, a modified version of H.R. 7147, provides FY2026 appropriations for the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the customs operations division of CBP [2][5].

The House had earlier passed a full DHS appropriations bill on January 22 by a 220-207 vote, allocating $66.4 billion in discretionary funding — up from $65 billion enacted in FY2025 [6]. The conference bill that emerged from bicameral negotiations included approximately $64.4 billion in total discretionary spending [7].

Key agency-level allocations in the conference version included:

• FEMA: $5.7 billion, an increase of $873 million above FY2025, with $26.4 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund [7][8]
• CBP: $18.3 billion, a cut of $1.3 billion from FY2025 levels [7]
• Coast Guard: $12.7 billion [7]
• CISA: $2.6 billion, approximately $300 million less than its current annual budget, but including $20 million to restore cut positions and $40 million for election security [8]

The bill that actually passed the Senate, however, stripped out ICE and most of CBP, funding only the customs functions of the border agency while excluding Border Patrol operations [2][5].

The $191 Billion Elephant in the Room

The exclusion of ICE and Border Patrol from the appropriations bill is less dramatic than it sounds on paper. The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (P.L. 119-21), the reconciliation package Republicans passed in summer 2025, already directed $191 billion in additional funding to DHS enforcement functions [9].

Source: Fwd.us analysis of P.L. 119-21

Data as of Mar 27, 2026CSV

Of that total, ICE received $74.85 billion — with $45 billion earmarked for detention capacity, $15.4 billion for transportation and removal operations, and $8.5 billion for hiring and training [9]. CBP received $64.73 billion, including $46.6 billion for border wall construction [9]. An additional $22 billion was allocated as a discretionary fund for the DHS Secretary [9].

As of January 2026, roughly $150 billion of that reconciliation funding remained unspent — enough to sustain operations through the fourth quarter of 2027 [9]. ICE agents and CBP officers have continued to receive pay throughout the shutdown because their salaries are drawn from reconciliation funds rather than regular appropriations [10].

Critics, however, argue that reconciliation funding lacks the oversight guardrails of the normal appropriations process. Because reconciliation bills do not include the detailed spending directives that appropriations subcommittees typically attach, Congress has limited ability to constrain how the funds are spent [9].

42 Days of Shutdown: The Human Toll

The partial DHS shutdown began on February 14, 2026, when Congress failed to pass appropriations for the department before an interim continuing resolution expired [11]. Of the department's roughly 260,000 employees, approximately 90% were classified as essential and continued reporting to work — most without pay [11][12].

The TSA bore the brunt of the public impact. Of the agency's 61,000 employees, 95% were deemed essential, meaning they were required to show up for work at security checkpoints with no guarantee of a paycheck [12]. More than 480 TSA officers quit during the shutdown [1]. Absences reached 40% at some airports, with half of TSA staff in Houston calling out and nearly a third in Atlanta and New Orleans doing the same [1][13].

Wait times at security checkpoints stretched past two hours at major hubs during the spring break travel rush. DHS itself described the situation as "spring break under siege" [13].

The crisis peaked in the final days before the deal. On March 26, President Trump announced via Truth Social that he had directed newly installed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin "to immediately pay our TSA Agents," including back pay [4][14]. That move undercut the Republican negotiating position — the party had been insisting on a full DHS funding bill that included ICE, using the TSA pay crisis as leverage against Democrats [4].

The Overnight Vote

With Trump's TSA pay order removing the immediate pressure point, Senate leaders moved quickly. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to the partial funding deal, which passed by unanimous consent voice vote shortly after 2 a.m. on March 27, with only a handful of senators on the floor [1][2].

The two leaders offered sharply different interpretations of the outcome.

Thune called it "unfortunate," saying: "We've been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing" [4]. He accused Democrats of obstruction: "It is now clear everyone that Democrats didn't actually want a solution, they wanted an issue" [1].

Schumer declared victory: "Democrats held firm in our opposition... We held the line" [1]. He argued the deal "could have been reached weeks ago" had Republicans not insisted on bundling immigration enforcement with other DHS functions [4].

Senate Negotiations: What Was On and Off the Table

The path to the overnight vote was shaped by weeks of failed negotiations. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) led talks on the Republican side, working with the White House budget office to identify unused funds that could cover TSA pay [15]. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee's vice chair, served as the lead Democratic negotiator [15].

Democrats had demanded several conditions for ICE funding: officer-worn body cameras, reduced detention-center bed capacity from 50,000 to 41,500, judicial warrants for immigration agents entering homes and businesses, and a ban on face coverings for agents [16]. The proposed deal incorporated body cameras and the lower detention bed cap but did not include the warrant requirement or the face-covering ban [16].

Those compromises proved insufficient for both sides. Senate Republicans rejected a Democratic counteroffer on March 25, and by midweek negotiations had reached a stalemate [17]. The breakthrough came only after leaders decided to strip immigration enforcement from the bill entirely and address it separately.

House Prospects: Dead on Arrival?

Congress recessed after the vote for a two-week break, and the bill's fate in the House is uncertain at best [3].

House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) called the Senate bill "garbage" and said it would not receive a vote [3]. Speaker Mike Johnson characterized the measure as "infuriating" and accused Democrats of being "willing to inflict pain on the American people" to defund immigration enforcement agencies [3].

The House Freedom Caucus announced firm opposition. Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) said the caucus would only support the bill if it included immigration enforcement funding and voter ID provisions [3]. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called it "offensive" that the Senate approved a measure excluding immigration enforcement [3].

The Freedom Caucus opposition shuts down the simplest procedural path — a suspension vote requiring two-thirds support — and complicates passage through the Rules Committee, which requires near-unanimity among Republicans [3].

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries offered a different path, stating there is "overwhelming support" among Democrats to pass the Senate deal and signaling willingness to assist with procedural votes "if necessary to end the chaos" [3]. But a bill passing with mostly Democratic votes would represent a significant political embarrassment for GOP leadership.

Republicans have signaled they may instead pursue ICE and CBP funding through a second reconciliation package, potentially bundled with defense funding and the SAVE America Act, a voter ID measure [3][18].

What Happens If the Bill Stalls

If the House does not act, the partial shutdown continues for most DHS agencies. The practical impact varies sharply by component [12]:

• TSA: 61,000 employees, 95% essential. Screeners continue working without pay, though Trump's executive order to restart pay may mitigate immediate attrition.
• Coast Guard: 56,000 active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel continue operations. Service members were paid during the shutdown using reconciliation funding.
• FEMA: 22,000 staff, 84% excepted. Disaster response continues, but preparedness grants and non-emergency programs are frozen.
• Secret Service: 8,200 employees, 94% continue working.
• CISA: 2,341 employees total, with only 888 designated as excepted — the rest furloughed. The agency had already lost approximately 1,000 staff (one-third of its workforce) under prior administration cuts [12].

Previous DHS shutdowns — including a 35-day partial government shutdown in 2018-2019 — showed that extended funding gaps erode institutional capacity even when operations continue. The current 42-day stretch has already exceeded that precedent for DHS-specific shutdowns.

Oversight Questions and Accountability Gaps

The Government Accountability Office has repeatedly flagged management weaknesses at DHS and its internal watchdog. A 2021 GAO report found that the DHS Office of Inspector General operated for four of the previous six years without a strategic plan, lacked consistent quality assurance standards, and had retracted published reports for failing to meet professional standards [19].

More recently, the sheer scale of reconciliation funding flowing to ICE and CBP — $191 billion with limited congressional directives — has raised oversight concerns. Without appropriations-style spending controls, there is no line-item accountability for how those funds are allocated [9]. The detention expansion alone — $45 billion for new facilities — represents a spending commitment roughly five times ICE's entire FY2024 appropriated budget of $9.6 billion [9].

Human Rights First and other advocacy groups have argued that the detention expansion lacks cost-effectiveness justification, noting that alternatives to detention cost as little as $6.50 per person per day compared to over $150 per day for detained individuals [20]. Supporters counter that increased detention capacity is necessary to support the administration's enforcement priorities and that the reconciliation funding reflects the scale of the border security challenge.

What Comes Next

The two-week congressional recess creates a window for behind-the-scenes negotiations but also extends the shutdown for agencies still unfunded. When Congress returns in mid-April, House Republicans will face a choice: pass the Senate bill (with or without amendments), draft their own version and send it back for conference, or fold DHS funding into a broader legislative vehicle.

The reconciliation path for ICE and CBP funding remains the most likely avenue for immigration enforcement dollars, but that process carries its own timeline and political complications. Senate reconciliation bills require only 51 votes but must comply with the Byrd Rule, which restricts provisions that do not directly affect the federal budget.

For the roughly 260,000 DHS employees caught in the middle, the question is simpler: when will they get paid? Trump's TSA pay order addressed the most visible agency, but tens of thousands of FEMA, CISA, and other DHS workers remain in limbo — essential enough to be required at work, but not essential enough, apparently, for a paycheck.