Last week should have brought an easy win for congressional Republicans. An end was in sight to the partial government shutdown that has left the Department of Homeland Security without funding for more than six weeks. The Senate approved a deal that would reopen DHS without yielding to Democrats’ demand for new limits on President Donald Trump’s deportations efforts. Small wonder that GOP senators felt comfortable flying home for a two-week-long break.
But then Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The House snubbed the Senate’s bill and passed its own before likewise skipping town. In doing so, Johnson managed to intensify the pressure on Republicans to find some way out of the ongoing stalemate. Moreover, the speaker gave voters another reason to doubt that Republican lawmakers even remember how to govern after decades of letting those skills ossify.
The speaker gave voters another reason to doubt that Republican lawmakers even remember how to govern
The deal that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., crafted was a subtle acknowledgement from both parties that an exit strategy was needed. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had held his caucus together in vote after vote as lines at airports stretched longer and longer. The White House had moved only slightly toward Democrats during weeks of negotiations over new guardrails for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Something had to give.
The Senate-passed bill acted as a face-saving measure for all sides involved, funding all of DHS except ICE and portions of Border Patrol. Had the House not revolted, Republicans could have moved past a partial shutdown that was now very much in the spotlight. ICE and Border Patrol could still draw funding from the massive pot of money the agencies received last year. And Democrats would be able to tell their voters that they had added no new money to Trump’s deportation efforts.
After the deal passed the Senate by unanimous consent early Friday morning, it could have been quick work for the House to take up the measure. Instead, Johnson refused to bring the bill to the floor. “I have to protect the House, and I have to protect the American people,” he told reporters before putting forward the exact same short-term funding bill that Democrats have already rejected repeatedly.
An open vote would probably have produced a bipartisan majority ready to bring this whole affair to a close. As Punchbowl News noted, “this episode illustrates how adrift the GOP-run Congress is when Trump remains on the sidelines.” The internal politics of Johnson’s minuscule majority means that backing down on his demands that ICE and Border Patrol receive full funding could prompt a right-wing revolt. One round of calls from the president could have been enough to seal the deal — but those calls never came.
Rather than taking the off-ramp present, the House has chosen to careen headlong towards a dead end
Left to his own devices, Johnson opted to follow the lead of his most conservative bloc, throwing a tantrum and setting up a needless struggle with colleagues across the Capitol. Despite his calling the Senate’s measure a “joke,” the only laughter is coming from relieved Democrats. In rejecting Thune’s compromise, Johnson has reframed the fight from one between the parties into an intraparty struggle. Rather than taking the off-ramp present, the House has chosen to careen headlong toward a dead end.
A memo Trump signed Thursday ordering DHS to find the funds to pay Transportation Security Administration staffers may reduce some of the pressure on Republicans. It’s unclear, however, exactly which pool that money is coming from and how many rounds of paychecks will be covered. Without a bill to guarantee more funding, the backlash to leaving about 50,000 TSA workers in the lurch again could be substantial. Meanwhile, White House immigration czar Tom Homan said Sunday that ICE agents deployed to busy airports may remain in place despite Trump’s order. The ongoing security theater only serves as a constant reminder to travelers of what’s at stake with this shutdown and why Democrats refused to fund DHS in the first place. It’s hard to see what other proposal beyond the one Thune and Schumer assembled could break the impasse at this point. Democrats will not back unconditional new funding to Trump’s deportation forces, not without fettering their lawlessness. Too many House Republicans have grown used to being an opposition party, no matter who controls the chamber, to take a clear win. Johnson likewise is too worried about staving off his right-flank to lead them to accept it. The status quo is unlikely to change before the end of Congress’ spring break, at which point all eyes will be on Johnson and his caucus to come up with a solution to a problem that could have been solved already.
Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He focuses on politics and policymaking at the federal level, including Congress and the White House. 
