Senate agrees to fund DHS, except ICE and CBP, in bid to end extreme airport delays
The Senate voted unanimously early Friday to reopen the Department of Homeland Security after a 40-day shutdown, but without funding for immigration enforcement and deportation operations.
WASHINGTON — The Senate agreed unanimously early Friday to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but without funding for immigration enforcement and deportation operations.
Senators approved the package at 2:20 a.m. by voice vote following a marathon session.
The 42-day funding lapse has seen them go without pay, leading many to call out of work and causing long lines at airports. While the measure still needs to pass the House, the Senate vote paves the way to allow airports to fully function again.
Long wait lines at a TSA checkpoint at New York's LaGuardia airport Friday.Gabrielle Korein / NBC NewsThe legislation would fund all of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which Democrats have refused to vote for without significant reforms to immigration raids and deportation practices.
The deal followed arduous bipartisan negotiations that occurred in fits and starts over the last six weeks, succumbing to the impasse around policy changes to immigration enforcement. Under the new plan, Democrats get their weeks-long demand to fund the department with the exceptions of ICE or CBP, but also without the restrictions they sought on how immigration officers may conduct operations.
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