Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that language in a Homeland Security funding bill the Senate passed unanimously near three weeks ago is “problematic” and will have to be changed to pass the House.
The bill as written, Johnson said, would “orphan” funding for key immigration enforcement agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Passage of that measure is part of a two-track DHS funding approach that won President Donald Trump’s endorsement but has faced skepticism from some conservative hard-liners.
The failure of the House and Senate GOP to align on a plan threatens to further delay the passage of DHS funding, even after Saturday’s attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“It has some problematic language because it was haphazardly drafted,” Johnson told reporters of the Senate-passed bill. “We have a modified version that I think is going to be much better for both chambers.”
The language in question explicitly zeroes out funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, which are set to be funded in a second measure to be passed under the party-line budget reconciliation process.
Stripping it out as the conservative are demanding will force the Senate to approve the bill a third time — and could potentially create objections from Democrats who have insisted on putting new restrictions on immigration enforcement.
