A bipartisan duo in the House is offering a compromise plan to end the monthlong shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that would fund the agency while tightening oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a rare middle-ground effort amid an escalating partisan standoff over immigration.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) are introducing a bill to fund DHS but also include some restrictions on ICE, largely pushed by Democrats, such as body cameras, training, visible officer identification, and others.
Fitzpatrick and Suozzi are co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a 46-member bipartisan group that seeks to find common ground on issues such as immigration and affordability among Democrats and Republicans.
The duo launched a podcast, called The Pod Couple, on Thursday in which they discussed their work to find a path forward on DHS funding.
“The common sense solution would be ok, what is that we agree on, and let’s get that funded, and the area that we disagree, let’s siphon that off and figure out a way to find common ground, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Fitzpatrick said on the podcast.
The two lawmakers have previously worked on a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. That legislation was sidelined, however, after the House Democratic leadership pushed for a three-year, clean extension instead.
Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, said Suozzi and himself are working to iron out the details on their proposal, hoping to keep it simple and include reforms to ensure ICE is “conducting themselves, comporting themselves in a way that’s consistent with all federal law enforcement.”
Suozzi, who oversaw the 12th-largest police department in the U.S. as Nassau County Executive, said he and Fitzpatrick are going to present the legislation to their colleagues and work to get the required support necessary to pass the bill.
The House passed a DHS funding bill back in January that amounted to $64.4 billion, but the measure stalled in the Senate as Democrats demanded a complete overhaul of ICE in the wake of two U.S. citizens being fatally shot by immigration officers.
DHS has been under a shutdown for over a month, with Republicans amping up their attacks on Democrats after Transportation Security Administration agents missed their first paycheck last Friday. The GOP is ramping up messaging on lengthy airport lines and the impact on flights as many TSA agents are reportedly calling out of work.
Despite the shutdown, ICE continues to receive funding thanks to money allocated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans have said makes Democrats’ stance on holding up funding over the immigration agency pointless.
The White House released a five-point offer earlier this week that pledged to codify a number of policy changes, including the expansion of body cameras for immigration agents; limiting enforcement in hospitals and schools; greater oversight of DHS detention facilities; enforcing visible officer identification; and adhering to existing laws that handle the deportation or detention of U.S. citizens.
Democrats have called this offer unserious. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is attempting to force a vote on legislation that would fund DHS but not ICE or other immigration agencies. They are using a method called a discharge petition, which requires 218 signatures to force a vote on a bill.
A few Republicans have joined Democrats on previous discharge petitions, such as one for a bill to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and another for legislation to extend Obamacare subsidies.
DEMOCRATS MOVE TO FORCE DHS FUNDING VOTE WITHOUT ICE AND BORDER PATROL
Jeffries said during a press conference on Thursday that there is “no reason” why certain parts of DHS should remain under a shutdown while ICE is being negotiated.
“We should be able to get this done today,” Jeffries said. “All Speaker [Mike] Johnson needs to do is bring the legislation to the floor that will pay TSA agents and reopen the parts of the Department of Homeland Security that have nothing to do with ICE and have nothing to do with Trump’s extreme and violent mass deportation machine. That’s all that needs to happen.”