A partial government shutdown is driving a new wedge between Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and his House counterpart, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), as Republicans struggle to find a way to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.
Thune and Johnson have stayed in “frequent” communication since the House dramatically rejected a Senate-brokered deal to reopen DHS on Friday, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
But so far, there is no sign Republicans will be able to get on the same page. Thune, after weeks of fruitless negotiations with Democrats, settled for a deal that simply leaves Immigration and Customs Enforcement unfunded, with the goal of passing more money for the embattled agency through a GOP-only megabill. The House swiftly tossed out that deal, passing an eight-week patch that funds all of DHS instead.
The dynamic flips on its head what until now had been a Republican versus Democrat dispute over how, if at all, DHS should be reformed after the death of two protesters in Minneapolis by immigration officers. And Democrats, who until recently had been trading offers with the White House, have been eager to point to the infighting to cast blame squarely on Republicans.
“Republicans shouldn’t look to Senate Democrats to fix their own internal caucus problems,” said a spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
There has not been a total breakdown between Johnson and Thune, who gave each other a heads-up before their respective bills were brought to the House and Senate floor. They’ve also been careful not to feed into the idea of a wider rift, with Johnson blaming Schumer for the diverging strategy in a Friday press conference.
Still, the disagreement is fueling cross-chamber tensions that were already boiling over regarding the SAVE America Act, a House-passed election bill that has stalled in the Senate due to the filibuster. And though he wouldn’t criticize Thune by name, Johnson called the legislative compromise Senate Republicans brokered a “joke” and told reporters that the House won’t accept anything short of full funding for DHS.
House Republicans say that granting Democrats the option to leave part of DHS unfunded would set a bad precedent. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, note that Democrats have repeatedly rejected the sort of proposal that passed the House on Friday.
The White House has yielded some ground on ICE reforms, but not enough to break the impasse with Democrats.
Adding to the dispute is the fact that both chambers are now out for a two-week recess, meaning a shutdown that has already lasted 45 days, a new record, could eclipse two months.
The White House, which is taking the House’s side on DHS funding, called on lawmakers to return to Washington to reopen DHS “entirely” on Monday, though no plan to cancel the recess appears imminent.
DHS funding is not the first time Thune and Johnson have publicly broken with one another. The two worked through tactical disagreements over how to pass Trump’s tax law last year and, more recently, navigated a spat over compensating senators surveilled by former special counsel Jack Smith.
Thune succeeded in “jamming” the House with language that allowed senators, but not House members, to sue for $500,000 in damages. Johnson then successfully repealed that language in a January government funding bill.
On the SAVE America Act, Johnson ushered the bill through the House in February and has since joined President Donald Trump in calling on the Senate to act.
Republicans will be able to escape the worst effects of intraparty fighting after Trump said he would pay Transportation Security Administration workers unilaterally “as long as we need to” on Sunday. The shutdown had caused a spike in wait times at airports around the country, prompting the White House to seek a pressure release valve as hundreds of employees called out sick.
If Congress can move quickly, the dispute will also become moot once Republicans craft the party-line bill Thune is envisioning. On Monday, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), a senior appropriator, told reporters that the legislation could fund ICE through the remainder of Trump’s term.
That money could be paired with funding for the war in Iran and possibly elements of the SAVE America Act, making reconciliation, the budget process they are using, the catch-all for overcoming Democratic resistance.
For now, the party has descended into intraparty sniping over next steps, with House conservatives complaining that Republicans did not try to pass the House funding patch by unanimous consent at a Monday pro forma session. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) was on hand to block that request, should Republicans have attempted it.
In a sign of a rift within the Senate itself, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called on Republicans to pass a 60-day funding patch, positioning himself with Trump and the House.
The infighting defies months of cooperation between Thune and Johnson, who stayed in lockstep in a prior shutdown centered on healthcare and today meet once a week, on Wednesdays, to discuss strategy.
THUNE SAYS TRUMP RELATIONSHIP STILL ‘STRONG’ DESPITE SAVE ACT ROUGH PATCH
Schumer and his House counterpart, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), have remained aligned on DHS funding, keeping their caucuses united despite weeks of pressure from airport delays.
But the two have at times broken with one another, with Jeffries notoriously offering a delayed vote of confidence in Schumer last year, when he and a handful of Senate Democrats helped Republicans avoid a government shutdown at the outset of Trump’s second term.