The months-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is finally over after Congress struck a funding agreement backed by Donald Trump.
The House voted Thursday to fund the majority of DHS, excluding its immigration enforcement arms, sending the President a bipartisan funding package to break the impasse.
The voice vote passed quickly and without much fanfare despite the months of vitriol over the department's funding.
DHS has been without its routine financing from Congress since February 14, when Democrats protested a Republican-led bill after the deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota led to two Americans being killed by federal agents.
Democrats demanded reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol to secure their support for a funding bill. They proposed a plan to fund parts of DHS while withholding money for DHS and ICE.
Senate Republicans passed that bill a month ago, but House Republicans refused to take it up. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson called the proposal a 'joke' last month, but on Thursday, his conference passed the measure.
The shutdown impacted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), ICE, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Coast Guard and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which all fall under the DHS umbrella.
Trump is expected to sign the bill later on Thursday, ending the 76-day financing spat. Republicans say they will fund immigration enforcement in a forthcoming bill.
President Donald Trump signed a bill funding the majority of DHS on Thursday to end the months-long stalemate in Congress over the department's financing
Democrats objected to a GOP-led bill in February because of its funding for ICE and Border Patrol in the wake of federal agent involved shootings in Minnesota
The impasse also impacted TSA workers' pay, prompting over 1,000 officers to quit, which made airport security lines unbearably long
To break the stalemate, Republicans rallied around the idea of passing immigration enforcement funding in a separate bill, which is expected to get a vote in the coming months.
That effort will come through a budget reconciliation bill, which would need far less Democratic support.
It is expected to include $70 billion for immigration enforcement and deportations that will help fund Trump's sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.
Trump signed an order in late March to provide funding for TSA after airport lines grew so large that it would take passengers hours to get to their terminals.
The White House warned Republicans to solve the impasse this week as money earmarked for the TSA workers was running low.
'DHS will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk,' the Office of Management and Budget said in a memo sent out on Tuesday.
Over 1,000 TSA workers have quit since the shutdown began in February, according to Airlines for America.
Most immigration enforcement functions remained funded throughout the shutdown due to a major cash infusion passed by Congress last summer as a part of Trump's tax cut bill, dubbed 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.'
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the bill passed on Thursday a 'joke' last month as he negotiated with Democrats on funding
Some immigration enforcement officials kept getting paychecks during the shutdown thanks to a $170 billion cash infusion passed in Trump's signature tax cut bill passed last summer
Now Republicans are readying the larger reconciliation bill to provide the extra funding for immigration enforcement without Democratic support.
The same method was used last summer to pass the Trump tax cuts without Democratic votes.
Trump has said he wants that bill on his desk no later than June 1.