DHS funding talks stalled as airline chaos worsens
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown as DHS remains underfunded. Democrats continue to demand ICE reform as airports lose more workers.
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The Senate also failed to end the Homeland Security shutdown on Thursday despite signs that the long-running shutdown might be lifted, prompting President Donald Trump to act.
Senate Democrats blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the seventh time as the partial shutdown entered its 41st day Thursday, after Senate Republicans made a new offer earlier in the day after overnight negotiations.
Trump then ordered the DHS to pay airport workers, and blamed their “leader,” Cryin' Chuck Schumer, for making it clear where the Democrats stand, “namely, ON CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS, NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
“I will sign an executive order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, to immediately pay our TSA Agents to deal with this Emergency, and immediately stop the Democratic Chaos at the Airports,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It's not an easy thing to do, but I'll do it!”
However, several other parts of the agency, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have not received funding.
DEMS BLOCKS DHS FUNDING AFTER GOP CRIES THEIR ACCOUNT, THUNE SAYS SCHUMER 'GOING IN CIRCLES'
US President Donald Trump walks to speak to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 23, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
The vote remained open for several hours to allow negotiations between the two parties to continue, but at five o'clock, Trump removed the bullet for funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“We're holding the vote open for five hours to give Democrats a chance to come to the table,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told reporters. “They didn't. And now, time is up.”
Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., said he believed negotiations between the two parties were progressing.
And despite Thune saying the day before that there was “no point” in sending Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Democrats another compromise proposal, Republicans did just that.
“The Dems are in charge of what I think is the last and last term [offer],” said Thune. “So let's hope that this will be done.”
Thune remained mum on the details of the donation. When asked if the White House was supportive, he said, “They've been involved in the back-and-forth that's happened throughout the night and into the morning, so we'll see.”
DHS OPERATES IN LIMBO AS DEMOCRATS DEMAND DIFFERENT COLLEGE CRACKS DESPITE GOP COMPROMISE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Democrats rejected the latest Republican deal to reopen DHS. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Several Senate Democrats who left their closed-door lunch meeting said they had yet to see or be informed of the latest proposal, and that the GOP's new offer was not discussed during the meeting.
A source familiar with the negotiations told Fox News Digital, “Schumer needs to grow two balls and make a decision.”
The swift change of mood in the upper chamber, despite recent setbacks, came after the prospect of an agreement to end the longest shuckdown in history appeared out of reach.
Republicans have offered Democrats a framework that will defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but lacks the changes Schumer and his caucus want.
“I think our caucus is always united in the same place: we will not fund an illegal immigration enforcement,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “And I don't think we've seen a proposal from them that meets that very simple point.”
SENATE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, EXPECT DEMOCRATIC BUYOUT
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., said Republicans made what may have been a “last ditch” promise to Democrats to reopen DHS. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The ICE Carve-out is a proposal that has been made by Democrats before – one Republican has previously blocked it. Given that, many Senate Republicans are frustrated that Democrats appear to be backing away from an idea they once championed.
“They walk down, shoot their mouths off and say we're going to fund everything except ICE,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. “We took them at their word. So, you know, they need to say 'yes.'
It also forced Republicans to confront the idea of defunding immigrants, which has been a sore point all week.
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Still, they're looking at budget reconciliation — the same tactic the party used to pass Trump's “big, good bill” last year — to fund immigration jobs and a few other priorities.
“I will not support legislation that does not pay ICE agents. However, there is a way, in the form of reconciliation, where we can load many years of that,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats, I think, have given us the assurance that we are moving forward.”
