SAN DIEGO, CA – MARCH 23: Travelers stand in a long Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line that stretches at Terminal 1 of San Diego International Airport on March 23, 2026 in San Diego, CA.
Casey Alfred | San Diego Union getty images
Senate Republicans and the White House appear close to a deal to defund most of the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown as airport delays worsen into the second month of the shutdown.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that negotiations were still ongoing, but “the deal appears acceptable.” President Donald Trump has said he wants to not only defund DHS but also include other changes like a ban on transgender care and a voter-ID measure.
However, Democrats say they are not satisfied with the Republican proposal.
At Homeland Security Secretary Markway Mullin’s swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, Trump said he would “consider thoroughly” the compromise funding proposal.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. The legislative text of the proposal to reopen DHS “is in front of the Democrats,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.
“It’s time to end this,” Thune said. “This is essentially what the Democrats are asking for.”
The agreement would include funding for all of DHS except a portion of its Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., part of a group of Republicans who met with Trump at the White House on Monday night, said that would be equivalent to defunding the agency by 94%.
The Democrats have not yet given their blessing.
Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said at a news conference Tuesday, “As Democrats have been very clear, we will immediately fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and CISA. While negotiations continue on ICE and Border Patrol, we’ve also made it clear that if we’re talking about funding any part of ICE or CBP, we’ll certainly be funding those. Some important steps have to be taken to control it.” “Productive.”
If an agreement is reached, it would end the shutdown that began on Feb. 14 ahead of busy travel weeks for Easter and school spring holidays. The shutdown has caused DHS employees to lose pay, with some missing work and others working without pay. Repeated government shutdowns – most recently last fall – have ended after flight disruptions due to staffing shortages of essential government employees who were not receiving regular salaries.
The deal would also include a plan for Republicans to advance a party-line bill that could defund ICE funding and include a version of the Save America Act, a Trump-backed elections bill that would impose a national voter-ID mandate and require proof of citizenship for registration, Graham said. It would not include some of the ICE reforms that Democrats are demanding, such as requiring judicial warrants for agents to enter private property or banning the use of masks.
Thune said discussion of those changes “will really depend on providing funding for ICE.”
According to MS Now, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Negotiations are ongoing, and they have sent us a proposal, and we will send them back a proposal. And I can assure you that there will be significant improvements,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The latest proposal to reopen the agency comes amid growing lines at the Transportation Security Administration at airports, as agents are facing missing pay checks for the second time this week and are walking off the job. The Trump administration deployed ICE agents to some US airports this week in what it described as a bid to assist TSA agents.
DHS funding ended a month after two US citizens were shot and killed in Minneapolis by federal agents as part of increased immigration enforcement.
The timing of movement on a resolution remains unclear, although Schumer called the situation at airports “untenable” from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D. After leaving a meeting in Thune’s office on Tuesday, he said Republicans are “ready to go.” He called on Democrats, who are also demanding changes to ICE immigration enforcement in exchange for their support, to “stop beating around the bush.”
“That’s why Democrats need to join us,” Hoeven said. “We have to pay these TSA agents.”
But Democrats aren’t the only ones who will need to get on board. Conservative Republicans, who supported the Save America Act voter-ID bill, have voiced opposition to blocking the legislation and attempting to pass it under the “budget reconciliation” process, a procedural device for budgetary legislation that requires only a simple majority to pass, whereas most measures require 60 votes to clear the Senate.
“It’s hard to imagine how the Save America Act could be passed through reconciliation, and by ‘difficult’ I mean ‘essentially impossible,'” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has led the charge for voter ID in the Senate. Posted on x On Tuesday.
Hoeven said he had spoken to Lee and that negotiators would continue to talk to him.
“”All these things are a work in progress. It takes some time to build consensus,” Hoeven said.
Trouble could also arise on the right wing of the House GOP conference. The House Freedom Caucus — which has joined with Lee and other supporters of the bill in calling for its filibuster rules to be changed to ensure passage in the Senate — questioned the strategy on Tuesday. Members cast doubt on whether the Save America Act could even be considered under the reconciliation process, citing the chamber’s “mysterious rules.”
The group said, “This is gaslighting. The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failed theater from Republicans in Congress. Pass the Save America Act right now.” Posted on Tuesday on X.
It signals a potential intraparty Republican showdown over radical opposition strategy, as the leadership and moderates try to assess whether reconciliation – under which the Senate parliamentarian gets to decide what can be considered – is even possible.
Rep. Brian Still, R-Wis., who chairs the House committee with jurisdiction over federal elections, circulated a list of election-related proposals to be considered separately from the funding bill on Tuesday.
They include a proposal that could potentially cut federal funding from states that don’t require voters to show authorized forms of ID, though it would also allow states to issue free voter IDs to some people. Another proposal would provide grants to states to cover the cost of sharing voter registration data with the federal government. And a third would allocate funds to amend federal voter registration forms to require states to require proof of citizenship.
—emily wilkins Contributed to this story.