The partial shutdown of the federal government ended on April 30 with the approval of a bipartisan bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The new spending plan will allow agencies such as Emergency Management (FEMA) and Transportation Security (TSA) to resume operations, among others, but does not include an item for Trump's anti-immigration offensive, who signed the package this Thursday.
First modification: 04/30/2026 - 22:39 Last modification: 04/30/2026 - 22:45
After weeks of delays, the House of Representatives voted on April 30 to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but not its immigration enforcement operations, and approved sending the bipartisan package to President Donald Trump for his signature, ending the agency's longest shutdown in history.
The White House had warned that temporary funds Trump had tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff and other agencies "would soon run out," triggering new threats of disruption for travelers at airports.
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DHS has been without regular funding since February 14, causing hardship for workers, although much of Trump's immigration agenda, which is at the heart of the dispute, is being funded separately.
"It's about time," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than 70 days ago.
The Lower House quickly voted by voice, without a formal roll-call vote, to approve the measure. This abruptly ended the standoff that began months ago, after Trump's deadly crackdown on immigration in Minneapolis triggered a reckoning on Capitol Hill over funding intended to advance the president's agenda.
The congressional initiative comes as DHS is under intense scrutiny and Trump removed Kristi Noem as secretary, appointing Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin in the midst of the government shutdown.
The agency has about 260,000 employees, spread across the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other operations.
Many workers have endured repeated turbulence, with possible temporary suspensions and unpaid salaries, as the stalemate in Congress has dragged on.
This shutdown came on the heels of last year's widespread government shutdown, which had already broken a record by lasting 43 days. Countless employees have had difficulty paying their bills or have simply left their jobs.
Trump's deportation strategy fueled the dispute
Following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, by federal agents during anti-immigration protests in Minneapolis, Democrats refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol (CBP) without changes to those operations.
At the same time, Republicans did not accept a Democratic-driven plan to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other parts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without allocating funds to ICE and the Border Patrol. They insisted that immigration operations should not be left without funding.
After the worsening of the closure, with hours-long lines at airport security checkpoints, the Senate unanimously approved the bipartisan package in a vote held in the middle of the night a month ago. The bill then stalled in the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, himself had called the legislation "a joke."
To break the impasse, Republican leaders in both the House and Senate decided to tackle immigration enforcement funding on their own through what is known as "budget reconciliation," a cumbersome process that will drag on for weeks.
By embarking on that path, Johnson managed to unlock the broader bipartisan bill for the rest of DHS.
House Republicans passed a budget resolution late April 29 in a largely party-line vote focused on ultimately providing $70 billion for immigration enforcement and deportations for the remainder of Trump's term, which expires in January 2029.
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Johnson acknowledged Thursday that, although he had previously rejected the bipartisan bill, the new budget process guarantees that immigration funds will eventually arrive "without crazy Democratic reforms."
But not all Republicans were satisfied. During Thursday's quick session, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said isolating immigration-related funds into a separate line item is "offensive to the men and women who serve in ICE and Border Patrol, and who serve this country every day."
Salaries remain in danger, according to the White House
The White House had urged Congress this week to act, warning that money Trump had allocated, through executive actions, to temporarily pay TSA workers and other employees was running out.
Immigration enforcement has been largely paid for by the injection of fresh money — about $170 billion — that Congress approved as part of Trump's tax cuts law last year.
Others, including those at TSA, have had to rely on Trump's intervention through executive actions to guarantee their salaries. Most of its employees are considered essential and have continued working.
But with salaries topping $1.6 billion every two weeks, Mullin recently said money was running out.
On Thursday, he stated in a social media post that the closure "should NEVER have happened."
More than 1,000 TSA agents have resigned since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, the association of U.S. airlines that on Wednesday urged Congress to fully fund the Cabinet department.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said that while workers are "pleased that Congress has finally stepped up to do its duty and fund DHS, it is unacceptable that it has taken this long to do so."
He added that "federal employees are not political pawns. They are not bargaining chips. They are Americans, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."
What's next for the federal government
The go-it-alone strategy in the budget resolution process is the same one used last year to pass Trump's tax cut law, which all Democrats opposed.
Now that the House and Senate have passed the budget resolution, lawmakers will next draft the actual $70 billion funding bill for ICE and Border Patrol, which is scheduled to be voted on in May.
Trump has declared that he wants to have it in his office before June 1.
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