GOP senators see path to ending DHS shutdown after Trump meeting

Senate Republicans believe they've found a path to ending the five-week Department of Homeland Security shutdown after meeting Monday with President Donald Trump.

Asked after the White House meeting if they had a solution after meeting with Trump, Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama told reporters, “We do.”

“I'm going to be working through the night, so hopefully we can land this plane,” she later said.

Britt and Sens. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Steve Daines of Montana met with Trump to pitch an agreement that would fund most of DHS.

Their pitch, according to two people with knowledge of it, was to pass a funding bill that would fund all of DHS except specific parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is already funded under last year’s GOP megabill.

Graham told colleagues on the Senate floor after the meeting that the president is now open to a new party-line reconciliation bill after rejecting the idea over the weekend, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. That could give Republicans a path to pass more ICE funding — if they can muster the votes.

A second person with knowledge of the discussions also said a new reconciliation bill was a possibility after the White House meeting — though Senate Republicans have been cool to the idea given the uphill climb it would be to unite their members, the House and the White House behind a bill.

Republicans are looking at using reconciliation to pass more ICE funding as well as parts of their partisan GOP elections bill, the SAVE America Act, according to the person and another person granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Republicans cautioned that nothing is official until Trump backs it publicly, but GOP colleagues involved in the DHS negotiations sounded increasingly confident they would soon have a deal in hand.

“Not going to get into the details, but I'm more optimistic that by the end of the week, we will fund the Department of Homeland Security,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “hope so” when asked Monday night whether a deal was in hand.

Proceeding with the arrangement with Trump’s support would represent a U-turn from just 24 hours ago for the president, who insisted Sunday that DHS could be only funded if Democrats agreed to pass the SAVE America Act alongside it. Trump also over the weekend shot down a plan backed by Senate conservatives to pursue a reconciliation bill for immigration enforcement money — opposition first reported by POLITICO.

Trump’s demand — outlined in a Truth Social post — threatened to upend the chances of a quick deal to end the shutdown just as negotiators started to feel as though they were making progress.

Republicans worried that linking the two issues would all but guarantee that the shutdown would continue indefinitely and would undermine the GOP’s efforts to blame the funding lapse on Democrats, who have demanded changes to immigration enforcement in exchange for funding.

“We don't have 60 votes to [move forward with] SAVE — Sen. Thune’s made that pretty clear — and I think that's the challenge,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told reporters Monday. “So hopefully we can get the DHS funded, and then we'll deal with the SAVE America Act.”

Senators of both parties are now racing to try to finalize an agreement. Multiple Democrats and another person with knowledge of the negotiations said they expected to trade legislative text that would reflect the path forward. That process could begin as soon as Monday night.

“Both sides are talking in a serious way,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.

Democrats in both chambers have pressed Republicans multiple times to take up their bills that would fund all of DHS except ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the secretary’s office. Republicans have rejected the efforts each time.

Democrats indicated that how much of ICE and CBP they are willing to fund as part of the deal could be tied to what immigration enforcement reforms they get.

"Column A … not another dime for ICE at all, and there's no reform,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said about the choices awaiting Democrats. “Column No. 3, fully fund everything, bigger menu of reforms.”

The option negotiators are circling on, he said, would lie in the middle — some funding for enforcement agencies but with guardrails.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.