Mike Johnson and John Thune Announce Surprise DHS Deal After Senate Funding Bill Rejected

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)nno

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) announced a new deal between the House and Senate to fund DHS on Wednesday after the House previously rejected a funding bill from the Senate.

Johnson and House Republicans previously rejected a Senate bill that would not have included Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds. It appears things have changed now though as Johnson and Thune said are ready to follow through on the president’s “directive” to fund DHS after over a month of a partial shutdown.

The Republican leaders claimed DHS will be fully funded “on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process.”

They blamed Democrats for the sudden change of course.

“While we hoped they would accept the 60-day CR to fund the Department entirely so that bipartisan negotiations could continue, it is now abundantly clear that Democrats place allegiance to their radical left-wing base above all else — including their own power of the purse — which means open borders and protecting criminal illegal aliens,” they wrote. “That is not acceptable to Republicans in Congress, nor is it to the American people. We cannot allow Democrats to any longer put the safety of the American public at risk through their open border policies, so we are taking that off the table.”

Check out the statement below:

We appreciate and share the President’s determination to once and for all bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown.

In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process.

We appreciate that Senator [Lindsey] Graham and the Senate Budget Committee have already initiated the process of developing a budget resolution that will ensure border security and immigration enforcement will be funded for the balance of the Trump Administration and insulated from future attempts by the Democrats to defund those agencies.

We operated under a belief that while our country is in the midst of an international armed conflict, Democrats might finally come to their senses and understand that defunding our homeland security agencies is beyond reckless and very dangerous. While we hoped they would accept the 60-day CR to fund the Department entirely so that bipartisan negotiations could continue, it is now abundantly clear that Democrats place allegiance to their radical left-wing base above all else — including their own power of the purse — which means open borders and protecting criminal illegal aliens. That is not acceptable to Republicans in Congress, nor is it to the American people. We cannot allow Democrats to any longer put the safety of the American public at risk through their open border policies, so we are taking that off the table.

In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited. In return, Democrats will once again demonstrate to the American people their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in America.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump claimed in a lengthy Truth Social post that he had a process to fund ICE that would “bypass the Senate filibuster.” The president has pressed Thune to get rid of the Senate filibuster to make it easier to get legislation through, like his voter ID bill, the SAVE Act.

“I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st,” the president wrote. “Our Law Enforcement Officers and the American People should not have to wait until the Democrats see reason or, learn the hard way through the Polls. Hopefully, everyone will be voting REPUBLICAN for the Midterms. Through simple unification, Republicans can do this without the Democrats!”

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