The ongoing battle on Capitol Hill over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not only highlighting differences between Republicans and Democrats, but also exposing a divide between House and Senate Republicans. That divide was amplified last week when House Speaker Mike Johnson strongly rejected a compromise DHS funding bill passed by the Senate, which stripped out all funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border enforcement. Johnson did not criticize Senate Majority Leader John Thune directly, but called the bill "a joke" and said he doubted many Senate Republicans had read the bill, suggesting if they had they wouldn't have agreed to pass it. Johnson later insisted he wasn't trying to "roll the Senate."
Johnson has repeatedly pushed for a clean funding extension for DHS, while several Republican senators have proposed passing the bill without ICE funding in order to get it past Democrats, then using separate budget reconciliation legislation to restore ICE funding with a simple majority vote. So far, Johnson is not budging. "The idea that you would fund DHS with the exception of ICE, and then use the ICE funding as leverage or even hold it hostage, I think Johnson is standing on principle," says Dr. Bo Kabala, political science professor at Tarleton State University. "He's saying you can't fund the entire agency with the exception of ICE, that's like blackmail."
Ultimately, President Trump is going to have to step in to settle this GOP food fight. So far, Trump seems to be siding with Johnson. Trump called the Senate bill "unacceptable" after Johnson rejected it. For now, Trump has signed an executive order to pay TSA agents during the shutdown, and is asking Congress to return from their Easter recess. "He's calling on Congress to do the right thing, to come back to Washington, and to fund and reopen the Department of Homeland Security fully," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday.
Kabala believes Trump will ultimately bridge the gap between House and Senate Republicans, one way or another. "Teddy Roosevelt of course once talked about the bully pulpit---that platform that the president has---no other individual in the government has anything approaching that," he tells KTRH. "So I think this is (Trump) sort of being the 'Big Dad,' and potentially a decisive arbitrator on this issue...and that shifts the political dynamics."
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