Republican House members rejected the temporary budget allocation agreement approved by the Senate and passed their own temporary budget bill, causing the Department of Homeland Security's funding shortfall to continue.
Republican members of the House of Representatives rejected the Senate's bipartisan temporary budget allocation agreement for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and passed their own budget bill late on Friday (27 Mar), extending the partial DHS shutdown that has affected aviation for several weeks.
The temporary budget bill, which allocates full funding for DHS for eight weeks, passed with a vote of 213 to 203 after House Republicans refused to accept the Senate's agreement because it cut funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
This event highlights ongoing conflicts that have forced thousands of airport security officers to work without pay, despite the White House stating that President Donald Trump has issued an order to eventually compensate those officers.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that budget measures “sticking to the status quo will be immediately rejected when they reach the Senate, and the Republicans know this well.”
He added, “Democrats are ready to support essential homeland security funding, but we will not write a blank check to Trump’s illegal and dangerous immigration enforcement forces without reform.”
The late-night vote followed Speaker of the House Mike Johnson calling the Senate’s bipartisan bill “a joke” because it cut funding for the agency responsible for the controversial Trump-era immigrant raids and deportations.
Conversely, House Republicans proposed a parallel bill that would fully fund Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers as well as immigration and border patrol agents.
However, both the Senate and the House must pass the same version before it can be sent to the president’s desk to be signed into law, meaning the partial DHS shutdown will continue.
This partial shutdown has caused TSA officers, who screen passengers, luggage, and cargo at airports, to work without pay since mid-February.
This deadlock has severely delayed airport services. AFP reporters noted that on Friday at Houston International Airport, security lines stretched out of sight, with airport staff handing out water to passengers.
The main budget conflict centers on Democrats’ demands to reform ICE after officers fatally shot two Americans during a crackdown in Minnesota, and videos have raised serious questions about whether officers used excessive force.
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Source:The Guardian