WASHINGTON, United States: The US Congress on Thursday approved funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ending a record-breaking partial government shutdown that has disrupted critical agencies for more than two months.
The House approved the measure, already passed by the Senate, sending it to President Donald Trump for signature. It will fund key DHS agencies through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
It does not include new money for immigration and border enforcement, leaving unresolved the political dispute that triggered the shutdown. The House cleared the bill by voice vote just hours before a critical deadline, after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that emergency funds used to cover salaries would soon run dry.
The department has been partially shuttered since February 14, making it the longest funding lapse of its kind, at 75 days.
The legislation restores normal funding to agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service.
But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol -- at the center of a bitter partisan fight -- are excluded from the deal.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson “extended the DHS shutdown for over a month for no reason at all. This is the same bill the Senate unanimously passed five weeks ago,” said Patty Murray, the top Democrat on government funding in the upper chamber.
“After Republicans spent months blocking disaster relief and funding for the TSA, Coast Guard, and our cyber defense agency, it is a very good thing that this bill is finally on track to be signed into law to fund these agencies.”
