The Senate has moved forward with a deal to free up funding for the Department of Homeland Security, teeing up legislation for the House to end the shutdown.
On March 27, lawmakers voted to move forward without a filibuster on a proposal to end the partial shutdown by funding all of the department. The deal includes airport TSA workers, but excludes funding for immigration operations — a point that has been core to the dispute.
Next up will be a vote to officially pass the bill in the Senate, and then it will go to the House of Representatives before heading to President Donald Trump’s desk.
The partial shutdown began at midnight on February 14 after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on guardrails for immigration enforcement.
The shutdown has left essential workers at TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard without pay.
The deal came as travelers nationwide have experienced harrowing wait times at TSA checkpoints as TSA workers called out sick en masse or quit entirely. Delta Air Lines, citing the government shutdown, also suspended some specialty services for members of Congress as of March 24.
Ha Nguyen McNeill, the top TSA official, testified in Congress on March 25 that staffing shortages have led to the “highest wait times in TSA history” and that the agency has lost more than 480 officers since the shutdown began.
Lawmakers in the Senate were close to reaching a deal, which excludes funding for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations division, on March 25. The plan fell apart on the same day after it failed to clear an initial vote.
Trump also said on March 24 that he does not approve of any deal that does not include the SAVE America Act, a bill that would overhaul the federal elections system and is unrelated to DHS.
“I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy with it,” Trump said.
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