(WASHNGTON) — President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to sign an order to pay “all” employees at the Department of Homeland Security amid the record-long agency shutdown.
“Help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country,” Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform.
Trump did not say where the money would come from, or how long the administration would be able to pay the tens of thousands of employees.
Last week, Trump signed a presidential memorandum ordering DHS to issue paychecks to Transportation Security Administration employees. Trump said those payments would come from his sweeping tax bill passed by Congress last year.
But a number of other individuals who work within DHS, including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency remain without pay as Congress works out a funding deal.
Republican leaders on Wednesday signaled an end to the shutdown was near, announcing an agreement to fund most of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said they agreed to end the shutdown in the “coming days” and later address funding for immigration enforcement through reconciliation.
But the record-long shutdown will continue until at least Monday after the House took no action on the deal on Thursday.
The Senate once again unanimously agreed to send its bill back to the House during a pro-forma session on Thursday morning. The House didn’t take any action during its own session.
House Republicans were expected to hold a conference call on Thursday to discuss funding, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, accused House Republicans of “needlessly extending the DHS shutdown” in a statement on Thursday.
“House Republicans own the longest government shutdown in history. The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck,” Schumer said.
“The Senate did its work twice to fund key parts of DHS without funding the lawlessness of ICE and Border Patrol,” Schumer added. “House Republicans need to get to work and end the longest Republican shutdown in history.”
Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE and CBP after two American citizens were shot and killed by federal agents during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.
Johnson and Thune, however, said Republicans will move forward to fund border security and immigration enforcement for three years through budget reconciliation — a legislative tool that would allow Republican to bypass Democratic opposition and pass certain spending and tax bills with a simple majority vote.
President Trump has demanded Republicans deliver funding for ICE and CBP by June 1.
“Thank you to all of our Great Congressional Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Leader John Thune, for their work this week. Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers,” Trump wrote in his post on Thursday.
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