Speaker Mike Johnson: ‘Not my preference’ to split DHS funding bill 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Tuesday that it’s not his “preference” to split apart a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, amid a new proposal from Senate Republicans to fund immigration removal operations through the budget reconciliation process.

The potential deal would fund most of DHS, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) emergency removal operations, which account for more than half of the agency’s budget.

Senate Republicans are planning to fund that and select provisions of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act through a reconciliation bill.

Reconciliation is a special process that allows a party with unified control in Washington to circumvent a filibuster in the Senate, as long as the legislation being considered meets certain budgetary requirements. 

But Johnson threw cold water at the idea of splitting apart a DHS bill.

“That is not my preference. I can tell you, the House has funded DHS twice. We’re prepared to do it again. Completely fund the entire department. That is the responsible way to do this thing. So, we’ve been very resistant to any idea to break it apart,” Johnson said. 

Johnson told Politico on Tuesday that he hasn’t seen the details of the Senate proposal yet. 

The House had twice passed measures to fully fund DHS, which had been repeatedly shot down by Senate Democrats. The House is scheduled to bring up a similar measure for a third time this week.

“That’s been our position from the beginning,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Tuesday. “And obviously, we’ve had votes to do just that. So, anything short of that, we’d need to see the details obviously, talk to the White House about the implications.”

The DHS shutdown has already stretched for over five weeks, as Democrats demand reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) following the death of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents. 

The White House said that Trump was on board with the Senate GOP proposal. But Trump, when asked about it on Tuesday, did not commit to backing it.

“Well, I don’t want to comment until I see the deal, but as you know, they’re negotiating a deal. I guess they’re getting fairly close, but I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy with it,” Trump said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rejected the proposal on Tuesday, telling reporters that he would submit a counteroffer to Republicans and that his party will still insist on reforms to “rein in” ICE

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