Congress passes bill to fund most of DHS, but not ICE, Border Patrol

by · UPI

April 30 (UPI) -- Congress voted to reopen part of the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday after weeks of fighting over parts of the budget.

The department has been in a partial shutdown for 75 days.

The House approved the partial funding bill that the Senate passed over a month ago. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the legislation that will fully fund the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other offices within the department that don't deal with immigration enforcement.

The bill's passage is a victory for Democrats who have fought to control the immigration enforcement tactics that led to the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota earlier this year.

But congressional Republicans are planning to fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a package that would last through Trump's term via reconciliation, which would bypass any Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Trump has said he wants to sign that bill by June 1.

ICE and Border Patrol have been operating on funds passed last fall in Trump's budget megabill.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox and Friends last week that the department will run out of money for salaries in May.

"I've got one payroll left, and there is no more emergency funds so the president can't do another executive order because there's no more money there," he said.

The bill ends the monthslong battle that caused major airport disruptions as TSA agents quit or took time off while not getting paid.

Not all Republicans agreed with Thursday's vote.

"I think it's asinine that we're funding the government this way," CNN reported Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said just before the vote. Roy has fought against partial funding bills in the past.

"The Senate is more concerned about preserving the filibuster than they are about preserving the Constitution. The filibuster is not in the Constitution. The appropriations bills are," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

CNN reported that House Republicans take issue with the bill not funding ICE and Homeland Security because they worry it could hurt them in primaries. Opponents could say they defunded ICE.

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Artemis II pilot Victor Glover (L) and mission specialist Christina Koch meet with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Graeme Sloan/UPI | License Photo

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