Tipsheet

Things Are Getting Ugly Among Congressional Republicans Over the Senate's DHS Move

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 27, 2026 1:30 PM

The Senate wanted to go home, so it passed a bill late at night that funded most of the Department of Homeland Security, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol. The situation is complicated, but the Republicans 'won' this round, as Democrats wanted judicial warrants and masks for ICE agents, but they didn't get either. Still, House Republicans are upset about splitting the funding and annoyed that Senate Republicans procedurally put them in a difficult position. Members of the upper chamber also headed for the weekend, which doesn't look good.  

The fact is that ICE and CBP are funded through the Big, Beautiful Bill, and the rest of the funding will come later via a reconciliation package that will include some SAVE America Act provisions. That is unacceptable to House members. 

What happened this morning on the House side does not look promising, though some in the media initially believed there would be a lot of chest-beating, venting, and chair-throwing, and then the House would approve the deal. The current alternative being discussed is a 60-day continuing resolution for all of DHS.

ICE was deployed at the airport to provide relief for TSA. It worked. Democrats eagerly anticipated chaos, but none happened. What truly undermined them was when Trump used funds from last year’s tax cut bill to pay the agents’ salaries, allowing DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to do so. 

Remember, they got no judicial warrants for ICE arrests—an impractical request—or unmasking mandates. The deportation agenda is funded through 2029. But the Democrats want to defund ICE and the DHS altogether, which is their endgame. Also, if Trump had ordered DHS to use reserve funds to pay TSA, they still would’ve whined, even filed a lawsuit.  

The Democrats put on a grand political theater production, where all the theater kids got to play a part. In the end, they got none of their demands for ICE. Still, that means there better be another reconciliation push. At this point, and I’m open to changing my mind, I’ve had it with the filibuster. It should be nuked, and then we can pass any funding bill, plus the SAVE Act, without further obstruction. It’s beyond annoying how our intraparty antics allow Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer to look like legitimate players when even members of their own party hold both men with disdain. ICE is more popular than Democrats right now.  

Right now, House conservatives are looking for ways to jam up the Senate. That’s misdirected hostility. It’s bad enough we have agita-caucuses that raise blood pressure for every vote. The institutional rivalries, though historic and healthy, need to be put aside.  

The Senate also needs to get their asses back, because John Thune bolting after the vote is inexcusable.  

Senate Republicans, House Republicans, and Democrats are all hurling their talking points, making a lot of noise. It’s a mess, but Democrats are going to fund DHS; they didn’t get ICE to de-mask or seek judicial warrants, and the rest of the money is, and in fact, now must come through another reconciliation package, with more money and zero reforms that they want. Thune just put all his chips in the middle of the table here. 

There are many things that went wrong, not the least being that the GOP was overly generous in the time frame to deal with these intransigent Democrats. But this lack of communication jeopardized much of the messaging. 

We're essentially back to square one, where DEMOCRATS once again own this shutdown. 

The Senate is off until April 13.