House Republicans rebel against Senate-passed DHS bill, eye separate funding vote

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told House Republicans on a conference call Friday that he plans to hold a vote on a bill to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security for 60 days, according to a source on the call.

Johnson’s comments signal that the House has no intention, at least for now, to vote on a Senate-passed bill to fund all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

The Senate left town for a two-week recess after passing the bill by unanimous consent in the early hours Friday, and Democratic senators have vowed to block funding for ICE and CBP without restraints on immigration enforcement operations. That means Johnson’s proposal jeopardizes the Senate’s effort to fund the Transportation Security Administration and end extreme delays at airports.

The timing of a House vote is still up in the air. Johnson hasn’t made it official yet. Trump has not yet weighed in publicly on the Senate bill, but he could influence the plans of the House.

Johnson’s plan comes as a bloc of House conservatives expressed outrage over the Senate bill and vowed to vote against it, complicating any move toward swift passage in the House.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said senators caved by agreeing to leave out money for ICE and CPB.

“I mean, they got a vacation coming, they’re ready to get the heck out of town. They’re not handling any legislation,” he said of the Senate. “If this is just some trickery to get them home for a dad-gum vacation, then, no, I’d say let’s stay here and work.”

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, joined several other right-wing hardliners in demanding that the Senate-passed DHS bill be amended to add funding for ICE and voter ID provisions.

“The Senate acted cowardly last night,” Self said. “They passed this bill with five members on the floor through UC and then they scurried like rats off.”

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said the Senate-passed bill is “irresponsible” and added that voter identification provisions and parts of ICE funding must be included.

“Those two things will have to be in,” Norman said.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that a House bill that funds ICE and CBP without guardrails would go nowhere in the Senate, where it would require 60 votes.

“We’ve been clear from day one: Democrats will fund critical homeland security functions — but we will not give a blank check to Trump’s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms,” Schumer said. “A 60-day CR that locks in the status quo is dead on arrival in the Senate, and Republicans know it.”

Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., said Democrats won’t support a bill to fund ICE without constraints on ICE after immigration enforcement agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis.

“I think we made it very clear, and the American public is demanding some sort of guardrails on an agency that has basically terrorized communities across this country, resulted in the death of two American citizens,” she said. “We have shone a light on just how rogue ICE was acting.”

Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate Democrat from New York, said Americans are “sick” of the back-and-forth over funding the government.

“They’re sick of politics. They don’t want this, this finger pointing. They don’t want this game playing, this blame game,” he said. “They want us to do the job, to find agreement and get the job done.”