President Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed a Senate deal to fund the vast majority of the federal government through the remainder of the fiscal year.
Trump’s endorsement is likely to significantly ease the passage of a six-bill funding package the Senate is considering with just over a day until a partial government shutdown. Senators clinched a deal shortly before Trump’s announcement, agreeing to strip funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the package and pass the other five bills, while DHS will be funded by a stopgap.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before),” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,” he said.
The Senate is expected to begin taking up the revised bill Thursday night, which would fund the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education. Democrats demanded to strip the DHS portion of the bill after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota this month.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., office said shortly before Trump’s announcement that a deal had been reached to split the DHS portion from the rest of the bill. Schumer’s office said the stopgap for DHS would provide funding for two weeks.
The Senate’s move to break off the DHS bill from the broader package assures that the House will need to reapprove the package. The House is out on recess with plans to return next week, meaning a government shutdown could still occur over the weekend. A government shutdown last year stretched for a record 43 days.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told MS NOW earlier Thursday that he is “trying to figure all that out” and wants members to return to Washington “as soon as possible.” Johnson cautioned it could take up to 72 hours for all members to return to Washington.
The Senate is now “hotlining” the proposal, a process to ensure it has unanimous support in the upper chamber. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will likely need unanimous support to speed passage of the bill with the shutdown deadline looming at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Senate Republicans began to close in on the deal after a procedural vote on the full six-bill package failed earlier in the day. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the measure, underscoring how badly Republicans would need Democrats to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster.
Republican senators earlier Thursday said Senate Democrats were negotiating with the White House directly on a deal.
