House returns Monday to vote to end shutdown – with looming fight over ICE

The House is set to vote Monday on a bill that would reopen the government after a shutdown began early Saturday – while lawmakers will have just days to negotiate over ICE and border enforcement or face seeing the agency that oversees it grind to a halt.

Congress dodged disaster when the Senate hammered out a spending agreement last week to keep critical federal agencies running, avoiding the high drama of the recent 43-day government shutdown.

The Senate voted 71-29 Friday night to pass a collection of spending bills to finance much of the government.

But with tensions running high over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and congressional Democrats and some Republicans demanding changes, the deal split off Homeland Security programs, funding them for just two weeks at 2025 levels.

That sets up high-stakes talks under the national spotlight as ICE agents continue crackdown on illegal migrants and protesters blast their tactics.

“It creates a bullseye fight on DHS and ICE,” said one congressional source.

The government shut down at 12:01 AM Saturday despite the deal.

Since the House had gone home on a recess, its members weren’t there to pass the latest bill language into law. But impacts were mitigated due to the weekend, when most non-essential feds were off work anyway.

Now, after President Trump installed border czar Tom Homan in Minneapolis and said he will “deescalate a little bit,” Senate Democrats have more leverage. Passage of the bill will require 60 votes, so Senate Republicans will need to find seven Democratic supporters to move forward.

The weekend shutdown means employees for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and DHS face temporary furloughs – although during the weekend when most wouldn’t be working anyway.

Other parts of the government that are already funded would continue as normal.