After weeks of refusing, Republicans caved to Dem demands to fund DHS without a blank check for ICE and CBP.

[bigtree]

Last edited Fri Mar 27, 2026, 10:09 AM - Edit history (1)

Chuck Schumer @SenSchumer 1h
After weeks of negotiations, Republicans caved to our demands to fund DHS without a blank check for ICE and CBP.

My full statement below:



House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, where he emphasized that while the Trump administration is brutalizing American citizens and entering a reckless war of choice, House Democrats remain committed to making life more affordable for the American people.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yes, you know, what’s interesting, Lawrence, in their One Big Ugly Bill, which, of course, ripped away Medicaid from at least 14 million Americans and literally took food from the mouths of hungry children, seniors and veterans because of the fact that they enacted the largest cut to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance in American history. They gave $191 billion to DHS. 10 billion of that can be used any way that Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security wants. And so over the last 41 days, effectively, Donald Trump has chosen not to pay TSA when ordering Republicans to shut down the Department of Homeland Security. And so he’s always had this ability, but clearly he wanted to hold TSA agents and the American people hostage across the country while creating chaos at airports, trying to get Democrats to back away from our position.

House and Senate Democrats over the last several weeks have repeatedly made clear that we need to reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, TSA and FEMA and the Coast Guard and our cybersecurity professionals, every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, other than, of course, ICE, which needs to be brought under control. And we’ve also made clear we are not going to fund Donald Trump’s extreme and violent mass deportation machine. But Republicans who control the House, the Senate and the presidency made the determination that they want to hold TSA agents hostage and forced them for weeks now to work without pay when Donald Trump at any point over the last 41 days could have made clear that they need to get paid. Thankfully, we’ve now compelled him to do just that.

Donald Trump has said, don’t do anything. We’re dealing with an affordability crisis in the United States of America. We’ve got this reckless war of choice that we’ve got to end, that Donald Trump has gotten into. They’re spending billions of dollars to drop bombs in the Middle East, but are unwilling to spend a dime to actually make life more affordable for the American people. And then on top of all of that, he’s trying to jam the so-called SAVE America Act down the throats of the American people. This is voter suppression on steroids, and it doesn’t have the pass—votes to pass the Senate, and of course, in the House, was strongly opposed by Democrats, and we will continue to do so. We’re going to do everything we need to do to make sure, Lawrence, that there’s a free and fair election in November. And when that happens, Democrats are taking back control of the House of Representatives, and Senate Democrats are on a path to do the same thing.

Effectively, he was saying, I don’t really care about the hardship that is being inflicted on the American people. We’ve seen gas prices are skyrocketing out of control in an environment where people are already struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. Many Americans can’t thrive and can barely survive. Donald Trump could care less about it, and he said that in his own words today from the White House. At the same period of time, apparently, he could care less about the fact that thousands of troops are being put into harm’s way in this reckless war of choice. And American lives, heroes, patriots, have already lost their lives up until this point. And yet, Donald Trump doesn’t care.

https://jeffries.house.gov/2026/03/26/leader-jeffries-on-ms-now-donald-trump-at-any-point-over-the-last41-days-could-have-made-clearthat-tsa-needs-to-get-paid/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Understand: Republicans have stood with ICE here. Let them run on that!!

Republicans see nothing wrong with what ICE did in Minnesota. Democrats are crazy if they don't bludgeon them with it from now to November.

[Quiet Em]

2. They passed a deal that Patty Murray has been offering for weeks

Her statement at the link below

https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-statement-on-dhs-funding/

[SergeStorms]

8. When complaints from top MAGAts started coming in....

Republicans saw the error of their ways. Spring break with mammoth lines for TSA in airports will do that to people.

[Kaleva]

12. Same with Senator Slotkin

https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/2026/03/19/republicans-block-slotkin-effort-to-pass-tsa-funding/

[Passages]

3. Well deserved bow.

[Fil1957]

4. Turns out that when the Dems don't cave, good things can happen. I hope leadership remembers this.

[Tree Lady]

5. They thought if they pumped in propaganda

To all the airports that the lines were our fault they would win.

But everyone is online now and knew the truth. Truth actually won this time but I am sorry for the TSA workers who had to get temporary loans to pay bills not knowing when this would end. And how many people lost their flights.

Trumps going to be even more angry now that he had to cave.

[617Blue]

6. Thank you Dems! You have power - the President gets the blame.

[Greg_In_SF]

7. ICE is

already fully funded for the next three years.

[tritsofme]

9. I'm normally very supportive of Schumer, but I have a very different take. This is a terrible outcome.

This is being framed as a win, but it’s actually a strategic own-goal.

We passed on securing whatever restrictions were actually negotiable through the standard appropriations process, and instead shifted the fight into reconciliation—where we have no leverage and Republicans can fund ICE/CBP on a party-line vote.

The likely result is that they not only fund it at higher levels with no restrictions, but structure it in a way that insulates ICE/CBP from future appropriations fights for the remainder of Trump’s term—meaning when Democrats retake the House, the funding will already be locked in.

[leftstreet]

11. So was that the GOP goal?

...but structure it in a way that insulates ICE/CBP from future appropriations fights for the remainder of Trump’s term

These House and Senate rules are so confusing and exhausting. You seem to understand it, so why wasn't ICE funding already protected from appropriations fights? Was it originally passed in a different setting?

[tritsofme]

15. This is confusing because it wasn't originally structured this way.

Historically, ICE/CBP funding ran through annual appropriations, which meant it had to be renewed and Democrats had leverage each cycle.

The reconciliation funding last year was a somewhat novel move—it created a separate stream of funding that isn’t tied to annual appropriations, which is why ICE kept getting paid during the shutdown while TSA did not.

How long that funding lasts depends on how it was written, but the key point is that it can cover multiple years or be large enough upfront to reduce the need for near-term appropriations.

A second reconciliation bill was widely considered dead until this became the cleanest way out of the shutdown, which is exactly what makes this outcome so counterproductive.

That’s why this matters: by shifting the fight out of appropriations and into reconciliation, we’re moving it into a process where Democrats have little to no leverage and where funding can be maximally structured to last beyond a single cycle.

[leftstreet]

16. That makes sense

The reconciliation funding last year was a somewhat novel move—it created a separate stream of funding that isn’t tied to annual appropriations, which is why ICE kept getting paid during the shutdown while TSA did not.

Thank you.

This sucks!

[Kaleva]

13. ICE is already funded for the next several years

This fight is about additional funding

[tritsofme]

17. That's not really the distinction that matters

Yes, there’s already reconciliation funding—that’s exactly why ICE kept getting paid during the shutdown.

The issue is that this fight was happening in the appropriations lane, which is where Democrats actually had leverage to impose constraints.

By walking away from that, we’re effectively pushing future funding into reconciliation, where Republicans can act on a party-line basis and structure it to avoid needing appropriations at all.

[AverageOldGuy]

10. Now . . .

. . . HOLD FIRM on the SAVE Act and do something to squelch Fetterman.

[James48]

14. Question-

I’m looking at the Senate website, and the records of Senate votes, and I cannot find anything about them passing funding last night.

What did they actually vote on? What bill number? What was the vote? I can’t find it.

[themaguffin]

18. Also, trump/DHS could have funded TSA, but CHOSE not to.