DHS shutdown looms as Johnson navigates GOP divide over stopgap solutions

A partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is all but guaranteed unless the Senate rams through a short-term extension of current funding levels sometime on Thursday.

But avoiding a DHS shutdown means the same measure must also pass the House of Representatives, where success will depend on delicate political maneuvering by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to persuade a House Republican Conference with varying ideas of what a path forward should look like.

"It would have to be for 60 or 90 days, I would think," said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. "I don't know what’s going to happen in 30 days, I don’t know what’s going to change."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to unveil a stopgap funding measure for DHS called a continuing resolution (CR), which would extend the department's current budget for a yet-unknown amount of time.

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It comes after Democrats walked away en masse from a bipartisan deal to fund DHS through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026 over what they saw as insufficient guardrails on agencies responsible for President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and elsewhere.

Congress has funded 97% of the federal government through FY2026 at this point. But DHS is a vast department with a broad jurisdiction that includes the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) — all of which will see varying levels of disruptions if a shutdown happens.

Republicans largely want to avoid such a situation but have made clear they believe that its effects would fall squarely on Democrats' shoulders.

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Conservatives like Norman favor an extended CR, arguing that it would fund Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a higher level than the initial bipartisan funding deal would have while removing Democrats' negotiating leverage for more guardrails on those agents.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital last week that he would support a full-year CR for DHS to "make sure that FEMA is funded and TSA is funded, and stop the drama."

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., similarly said on Wednesday, "I think we’d like to push it out as far as we can so we can avoid the constant uncertainty for the agency."

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"As long as this hangs up in the air, let’s say you do it for three, four months, the Democrats are gonna want a pound of flesh to help pass whatever it is. And I think that’s gonna weaken the efforts of … immigration enforcement," Crane told Fox News Digital.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told reporters earlier this week that he would favor a mid-length CR over something shorter.

"If we do two weeks and they leave for a week, it's really a one-week CR. Nothing's going to happen when that many important people are gone. So I think four weeks makes a lot more sense," Cole said.

But committee member Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., panned the idea of a CR altogether.

"CRs don’t work. CRs are not without pain. It disrupts a lot of your supply chain and purchasing and acquisition," he told Fox News Digital. "I can’t believe they’re even thinking about it."

Rutherford, a former sheriff, argued that a shutdown or CR would harm critical national security operations during a year that's expected to see a host of high-security events in the U.S. like America's 250th anniversary celebration, the FIFA World Cup and others.

Johnson declined to share his thoughts on CR length when asked by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, but emphasized the House GOP's position that the Senate should take up the bipartisan bill that Democrats initially walked away from.

"I'm not going to prejudge the length of it or what it should be. I'm very hopeful. I mean, we still have time on the clock. When there's a will, there's a way. And if they can come to an agreement on this and get it done, that will behoove the whole country," Johnson said.

House GOP leaders will likely need nearly all Republicans on board to pass a CR for DHS, with many Democrats warning they will not support any funding for the department without seeing proof of critical reform.

Jeffries would not go into specifics about what he would support or oppose in terms of DHS funding during his weekly press conference on Monday, but he suggested to reporters that a simple stopgap funding bill with no changes to ICE funding was out of the question. 

"ICE is out of control right now. The American people know it, and ICE clearly needs to be reined in," Jeffries said. "Our position has been clear. Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward. Period. Full stop."