The longest partial government shutdown in American history ended Thursday after the House of Representatives passed a bill to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security, sending it to President Donald Trump for signature after 76 days without the expected appropriations.
The measure funds DHS broadly but excludes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, the two agencies at the center of the dispute. Republicans and Democrats had been deadlocked for weeks over whether to attach reform conditions to ICE funding following two deadly shootings in Minnesota involving federal immigration officers. Democrats demanded changes. Republicans refused.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had blocked the Senate-passed bill from coming to a vote for weeks, insisting on full funding for immigration enforcement agencies. He ultimately relented Thursday. "We were not going to have lines at TSA. Everybody will get their paychecks now," Johnson told reporters after the vote.
DHS has operated without routine funds since February 14, producing major disruptions at airports and hours-long wait times at security checkpoints. In March, Trump signed an executive order to keep Transportation Security Administration agents paid, classifying them as essential workers. But the White House budget office had warned that emergency DHS funds covering presidential and airport security operations would run out in May if Congress did not act.
Pressure to act also intensified in the days before the vote. On Saturday, prosecutors say a man attempted to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, drawing fresh attention to the strain on security agencies operating without guaranteed funding.
ICE and Border Patrol will not receive restored funding through this bill. A separate measure to fund those agencies is currently being considered by the House.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin marked the end of the shutdown on X, writing: "To be clear, this Democrat shutdown NEVER should have happened." Democrats pushed back, pointing out that Johnson had sat on the bill for more than a month. "This is the same bill the Senate unanimously passed five weeks ago," said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on government funding in the Senate. "After Republicans spent months blocking disaster relief and funding for the TSA, Coast Guard, and our cyber defense agency, it is a very good thing that this bill is finally on track."
The partial shutdown had already shattered records for its duration, affecting one of the largest federal departments and drawing sustained criticism from both parties.
