LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Friday marked the 42nd day of the partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security, and it looks like things won't change anytime soon.
Here are a few questions and answers about the situation.
What did the Senate do?
After failing to find the votes to pass a House-approved funding bill for the department, senators in the early morning hours Friday passed by voice vote an amended measure that funded everything except ICE and Customs and Border Protection through the end of the federal fiscal year, Sept. 30.
The bill didn't make anyone happy; Republicans failed to fully fund the department, while Democrats missed out on enacting reforms for ICE, including requiring agents to wear body cameras, get judicial warrants before searching homes, refrain from enforcement operations in sensitive places such as schools and hospitals and to eschew masks and wear identification.
Although Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. told reporters Democrats could have achieved some of what they wanted with further negotiations, pressure was on both sides to reach an agreement. The standoff had led to long lines at airports as Transportation Security Administration agents called in sick or quit because of a lack of pay.
What happened after the Senate voted?
Since the Senate amended the bill, it went back to the House for concurrence. But it landed with a thud on Friday morning, as House Republicans slammed the measure for failing to fully fund the department. Some were also upset that it didn't contain some election reform language that they have been pushing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called the Senate's action "a joke" and "ridiculousness" before saying he would not bring the measure to the floor. (The House Rules Committee would have to pass a rule to consider the bill, but that vote was in jeopardy with unified Democratic opposition. The rules also ban suspending normal procedures to try to approve the measure by a two-thirds supermajority.)
Instead, Republicans said they would propose a temporary funding measure for the entire department — including ICE — until May 22. If that measure passes in a procedural vote later tonight, the bill goes back to the Senate, where it will face the same standoff that led to the shutdown in the first place.
What about TSA workers? How will they be affected?
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to reallocate existing funds to pay TSA workers in the absence of a deal. That action has relieved some of the pressure on lawmakers to act, and ironically may have paved the way for a further extension of the shutdown.
The TSA said in a statement its workers will likely start seeing their pay resume starting on Monday. But other employees of the department — including the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S Secret Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — will. remain without funding.
The Senate has already left for its two-week Easter recess, so it's likely nothing will happen until senators return to Washington.
That means as of this weekend — with the notable exception of the TSA — we'll be right back to where we were once the shutdown began on Feb. 14.
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