Senate recess at risk if DHS shutdown continues, Thune says

Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggested Thursday the Senate will not go on recess as planned at the end of next week if the Department of Homeland Security isn’t funded by then.

“We need to get this resolved and it needs to get resolved, you know, by the end of next week,” Thune said. "I can’t see us taking a break if the [department’s] still shut down."

Thune’s comments to reporters came as a bipartisan group of senators, including members of the Appropriations Committee and a clutch of Democrats that helped negotiate the end to the last shutdown, met privately in the Capitol with Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar.

The meeting — coming as TSA staffing issues create long lines at some airports — was the first sign in weeks of potential momentum in the DHS funding. But it ended without a breakthrough, people who participated said.

“I'm glad the White House was here, but we are a long ways apart,” Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said.

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.