Republican leaders in Congress say they'll pursue a path to ending the partial shutdown

By — Kevin Freking, Associated Press Kevin Freking, Associated Press By — Stephen Groves, Associated Press Stephen Groves, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Republican leaders in Congress say they'll pursue a path to ending the partial shutdown Politics Apr 1, 2026 4:20 PM EDT WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Wednesday what they are calling a path forward to fully funding the Department of Homeland Security and will try to end a record partial government shutdown. They said in a joint statement that "in the coming days," Republicans in the House and Senate would follow through on President Donald Trump's directive to fully fund the department, using two parallel tracks. According to the plan, most of the department could be funded through an agreement with Democratic senators, with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans would try later to fund those agencies through party-line budgeting legislation. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from Democrats, if not the GOP's own ranks. "We appreciate and share the President's determination to once and for all bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown," said Johnson, R-La., and Thune, R-S.D. The plan represents a return to what Republican senators had in mind when, early Friday, they passed a bipartisan funding agreement through unanimous consent. The Senate could approve similar legislation as soon as Thursday morning, but even if that happened, it was unclear how quickly the bill could move through the House. House Republicans refused to go...