(AURN News) — The Senate took a major step toward ending a six-week partial government shutdown early Friday, approving funding for the Department of Homeland Security while deferring the battle over Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a later budget process.
The vote came around 3 a.m. after 41 days of stalemate, excluding funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection — agencies Democrats want to defund as part of their opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Republicans, who control the Senate, will seek to fund those two agencies through budget reconciliation, a process that requires only party-line votes.
The House is expected to vote this weekend.
The standoff revealed deep partisan divisions over immigration policy. Democrats failed to secure restrictions on ICE operations, while Republicans did not secure passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he would redirect funds to cover TSA salaries, raising questions about why the move was not made earlier.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
