In the wake of the 11th hour congressional rush to fund DHS

What if one body of Congress didn't take down a formal vote to call for a major piece of legislation — but passed it at 2:19 Friday morning?

Would you try to outdo your colleagues across the Capitol Rotunda with your Congressional chicanery? Perhaps by passing an equally important version of the same bill – while officially bypassing the direct up/down vote on the measure – at 11:28 pm on the same Friday night.

That's what happened late last week. The Senate won approval from all 100 senators to pass a bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year — but did so on a voice vote at 2:19 a.m. Friday with just five members in the chamber.

House Republicans laughed at this. So they passed their own bill – to fund the entire DHS – just before the witching hour on Friday. But technically, the House didn't even vote directly on the legislation itself. The House voted to approve the “legislation” (which governs the debt debate). With the passage of that legislation, the House “adopted” the basic DHS funding measure as passed.

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But despite all this, the House and Senate did not agree. They had not approved the same bill. And despite the fiasco in the Senate, House Republicans then urged the Senate to pass the measure they approved Friday night Monday morning — without a roll call vote and just two senators in the chamber.

If you've been following all that, that's exactly what happened on Capitol Hill the past few days as lawmakers struggled to end a six-week shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.

It was clear early Thursday evening that there was no way in the Senate to approve the group's GOP bill to fund DHS after a lengthy roll call vote that began in the afternoon.

But something is happening.

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Congress was observing a 15-day recess for Easter and Easter Friday. Failure to address the problem now means lawmakers will be out of town until mid-April — extending the shutdown until then as airport lines swell.

So Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., worked on something that could pass the Senate — and possibly the House — before everyone left Washington for recess.

Thune suggested earlier in the week that the Senate usually has to “get to Thursday” before the frozen positions start to thaw. He was right. There was passage for the Senate to approve a bipartisan bill to address a major funding crisis at DHS. Therefore, Thune's charge late Thursday night and early Friday morning was not really about persuading members of Parliament to support the bill he was putting on the floor. But instead, Thune's aim was to persuade skeptical MPs not to oppose and blow the whole thing up.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., has developed a plan for something that could pass the Senate before Washington is left on Easter. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

There is something called a “hotline” in the Senate. Whenever the leadership wants to stop a series of votes, make some amendments to perhaps allocate time for discussion, they send a “phone number” to all 100 members of parliament. If there is an opposing senator, they inform the leadership. This streamlines the process early. It also ensures that members of parliament are not blindsided by something called “unanimous consent”. Common consent requests, or “UCs,” happen all the time in the Senate.

One of the most powerful tools of the Senate is “unanimous consent.” If you get the “unanimous consent” of all 100 senators, you can make the sun rise in the west. But all it takes is one objection to block UC – even if all 99 other members agree.

The behind-the-scenes hotline takes care of this in advance. Any member of parliament could oppose and block Thune's proposal to fund a large portion of DHS. But there should be no problem if he clears it with all 100 senators early.

That's why Thune went down at 2:19 am on Friday. Not a single member of parliament flagged his proposal. So the South Dakota Republican went down with a group of five senators – and passed the bill. Not with UC. But with something called a “voice vote. Those in favor holler yes. Those opposed holler no. The upper hand wins. The Senate passes the bill. There is no roll call vote.

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So, this was not an afterthought in the dying night. If any member of parliament had reservations, they would flag you up. Or better yet, come down at 2:19 in the morning and challenge it. In short, there were 100 senators, 100 chiefs of staff, 100 legislative directors and 100 advisers who should have known about Thune's plan. That's room for at least 400 people – if not more. So, this was not an episode for the quick-drawer.

Morning, Seni. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he “opposes the bill.” Same as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Well, that's fine. But no one objected or fired back at the hotline. No one came down to demand a vote – or even argued that the Senate could do nothing because there was no quorum to conduct business. So anything Republican officials who are upset about the bill have said are merely academic or trivial objections. If those MPs are genuinely opposed to the bill, they have missed their chance to act on it.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., even expressed support for the bill. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

It was thought the House might take up the bill — reluctantly — the next day to end more shutdowns and pay TSA workers. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., expressed support. So did Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., is the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. Granted, liberal Democrats may oppose the bill because there are no changes to ICE. But the bill would have passed with some Republicans and most Democrats. In fact, there are likely to be more Democratic yeses than Republican yeses. That would be poison for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lost his gavel by removing a bipartisan bill to avoid the closure of facilities in the fall of 2023.

So on Friday afternoon, Johnson filed his opposition to the Senate bill.

“Republicans will not be part of any effort to reopen our borders or stop immigration enforcement,” Johnson said, noting that the Senate plan left out funding for ICE and the Border Patrol. “This performance last night is a joke. I'm sure it's impossible for every member of the Senate Republicans to read the language of this bill.”

In other words, didn't they get a phone number?

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Yours truly asked the Speaker, asking why they do not support Thune. Johnson accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. being behind this bill. I pointed out that Thune was “the engineer behind this.”

“I wouldn't call John Thune the engineer of this,” Johnson said.

“He didn't have the time to accept it,” I replied.

“Let me answer a question, Chad,” muttered an exasperated Johnson.

So the House went ahead and passed its own bill to fully fund DHS on Friday night. Some House Republicans then expected the Senate to break with tradition and pass its bill — unanimously — during a short pro forma session on Monday. In other words, House Republicans ripped the Senate for what it did early Friday. But those same House Republicans wanted senators to pass THEIR bill on Monday in the same way they criticized the Senate for passing its bill on Friday.

Note that there was no phone number for the House bill at the time.

“We would like to see them do that,” said Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., on Friday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would “not call John Thune an engineer” after the bill. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

But Democrats sent a watchdog to guard against any GOP shenanigans as the Senate convened for 31 seconds with little attendance.

The Senate agreed. The Senate withdrew. Nothing happened.

“I was there to protest,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “I was here to make criminals happen.”

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., called it “insane” that Senate Republicans “didn't even try” to pass the House bill. But the lone Senate Republican on the job said Coons' presence would defeat that.

“We still don't have permission,” said Sen. John Hoeven, RN.D., moderated the session. “They refused. Obviously, Sen. Coons was there to do that.”

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But on Wednesday, the bill Johnson dropped Friday afternoon was on the verge of passing. Despite a sea of ​​opposition from conservative Republicans, the House will pass the Senate bill and end most DHS shutdowns. The world shook. President Trump was right about this. Still, Johnson and Thune are on the same page.

So the Republican House will eat what the Senate cooked up early Friday morning. And the House is likely to approve it with many Republicans spread across the country. But like Senate Republicans early Friday morning, no one can come back to block it.

And now, this wasn't something that was created overnight that only 400 people knew about. The whole country knew more than what happened.