House Republicans on Friday blasted the Senate’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding deal with Democrats and signaled they will refuse to bring it to the floor, deepening a standoff that is already disrupting airports and federal operations.
The rejection sets up a continued impasse as Washington heads into a two-week recess with no clear resolution in sight.
The biggest argument against democracy is five minutes with the average voter. The Democratic Party might be making that argument stronger. I’ve never seen a party push to eliminate elections and voting the way Democrats have in this fight over Department of Homeland Security funding.
Yes, this stubbornness over funding a key agency that’s been shut down since Presidents’ Day weekend is more about anti-Trump hysteria, but it also reflects the Democrats’ long-term goal of defunding ICE. Republicans understand this — that’s why they funded the agency through 2029 during the first reconciliation.
With TSA agents quitting due to lack of paychecks, the Democrats believe hurting regular people to get their way will work. We’re dealing with legislative terrorists. I was hesitant about ending the filibuster, but I am now leaning entirely toward it because Democrats want unrealistic concessions, and shutting down DHS over deportation disputes isn’t a valid argument.
DHS funding deal is falling apart.
Senate GOP offered to fund all of DHS, except ICE’s deportation wing (ERO).
Dems just countered and demanded additional concessions, they want major ICE reforms (unmasking, judicial warrants, etc).
GOP says why would we agree to reforms for…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 25, 2026
Yesterday morning Republicans sent a simple three-page amendment to the Democrats that removed ERO language from the bipartisan DHS bill and added language to ensure employees receive backpay. All of the original reforms are still included in the bill. All of the other original…
— Ryan Wrasse (@RWrasse) March 25, 2026
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is currently experiencing the longest wait times in the history of the United States as the ongoing Democrat-led shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) drags through day 40.
As of March 25, the shutdown stands as the second longest in U.S. history when partial and full shutdowns are considered together, second only to last year’s Democrat-led full government shutdown.
The impasse centers on appropriations for DHS agencies, including the TSA. Senate Democrats have blocked multiple attempts to advance full-year funding bills for the department, which would include operations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection.
Ha Nguyen McNeill, the top official at the TSA, is testifying about the dire air travel situation before the House Homeland Security Committee, where she is calling on Congress to fund DHS and “ensure this never happens again.”
McNeill said the TSA has already lost more than 480 transportation security officers during this shutdown, while callout rates have accelerated. At some airports, 40 to 50% of their workforce is calling out of work on certain days, she said.
“This has led to the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than four and a half hours,” McNeill said. “We are being forced to consolidate lanes and may have to close smaller airports if we do not have enough officers. It is a fluid, challenging and unpredictable situation.”
Democrats have once again refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been subjected to a lengthy 39 day shut down due to their unwillingness to come to the bargaining table.
Thune on DHS funding: Democrats have in front of them a proposal with legislative text that would allow us to get, DHS back and opened up again. And it is essentially what the Democrats have been asking for. And so, we’re going to have an opportunity to, to vote on that. And I…
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 24, 2026
The now former Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has been confirmed by the Senate in a 54-45 vote to take over as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security. He takes over for Kristi Noem, who was reassigned to a South America project.
The Governor of Oklahoma, Republican Kevin Stitt, has chosen an energy executive, Alan Armstrong, to take the now-vacant seat. Stitt said of his selection, “He’s a strong business leader who understands the power of free markets and limited government. He’s spent his career fighting for Oklahoma’s energy industry and providing affordable, reliable energy to all of America.”
Oklahoma governor names political outsider to replace Markwayne Mullin – theblaze.com
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma went outside the world of politics to fill the Senate seat of newly confirmed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
On Tuesday morning, Stitt tapped energy executive Alan Armstrong following Mullin’s Senate confirmation Monday night. Mullin is now set to be sworn in Tuesday afternoon to replace current DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who leaves the department on March 31.
More details and responses have emerged after tragedy struck New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night.
Blaze News previously reported that an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane operated by regional partner Jazz Aviation struck a Port Authority Airport Rescue and Firefighting vehicle that was responding to a separate incident.
‘I feel like the pilots saved our lives.’
The incident, which occurred between approximately 11:40 p.m. and 11:47 p.m. on Sunday, according to multiple official sources, was likely caused by “multiple failures,” according to a lead investigator.
An air traffic controller could be heard saying, “I messed up,” shortly after the incident, which killed both pilots and hospitalized 41 other people, including the two workers in the emergency vehicle involved in the collision.
RELATED: ‘I messed up’: LaGuardia Airport shut down after deadly collision
The air traffic controller was coordinating the response to another, unrelated issue with a United Airlines flight across the tarmac. There were reports of a strange odor.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people – UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children.”
The president then urged Senate Republicans to combine all of those bills and amendments into one piece of legislation, eliminate the filibuster, and skip their two-week Easter recess, due to start at the end of this week, if needed to pass it.
Trump also warned Republicans against voting to strike down what is now slated to be a massive bill.
“Let Leader Thune clearly identify those few ‘Republicans’ that are Voting against AMERICA. They will never be elected again!” he added.
Senate Democrats spent five weeks playing hardball over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Now, with ICE agents winning over airport travelers and key Republicans strategizing with the White House, it looks as if Democrats are starting to cave.
According to a new report from Punchbowl News, Democrats are signaling they might accept a deal — one that funds most of the department, but carves out ICE migrant removal operations. Republicans, rather than folding, are preparing to fund those ICE operations themselves through a party-line reconciliation bill.
For the first time in more than a month, there’s optimism that the Senate and the White House can finally find a path to reopening the Department of Homeland Security. Key Senate Republicans returned from the White House late Monday with a noticeably upbeat demeanor over the state of the talks with President Donald Trump, who had just rebuffed a GOP-backed off-ramp.
The framework under discussion would fund all of DHS except for ICE’s migrant removal operations, and could eventually include some reforms that Democrats have been demanding.
Republicans would then try to fund the rest of ICE via a party-line reconciliation bill.
The Air Canada pilot and co-pilot killed in Sunday night’s horrific collision between a regional jet and emergency vehicle have been identified as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther.
UPDATE: Pilot, Co-Pilot Confirmed Dead After Horrific Airplane Collision At LaGuardia Airport
“The two pilots were flying an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 regional jet operated by Jazz Aviation, Air Canada’s regional partner,” Fox News reports.
Gunther was the first officer alongside pilot Forest.
Antoine Forest identified as one of the Air Canada pilots killed in LaGuardia plane crash https://t.co/8yw8dHDWNi pic.twitter.com/5mJpoyhsGF
— New York Post (@nypost) March 23, 2026
Delta Airlines is taking a stand against the Democrats’ ongoing shutdown. The Atlanta-based carrier is ending a perk for members of Congress until they do their jobs and fully fund the TSA.
Atlanta’s Delta Airlines announced this week that it is suspending its stand-alone service for members of Congress until the TSA is fully funded. #gapol https://t.co/UDxZFZ0Dgw
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) March 24, 2026
You read that right. The same members of Congress who have failed to fund the TSA for the last six weeks may or may not be waiting in the unimaginably long security lines they’re causing. They don’t all use the perk, but according to Cornyn, they do all have the option.
…
That perk is just one of a bundle that have made flying a lot easier for the frequent flyers in Congress, who often are on an airplane twice a week or more commuting to Washington and back.
Along with skipping the lines, some members of Congress also request local police escorts to their gates. And they all get access to major airlines’ dedicated Congressional service desks to book trips, make last-minute changes, and even reserve seats on one, two or three flights on the same day, depending on congressional vote schedules.
In regular times, these could be seen as prudent security measures for high-profile flyers or simply good customer service for some of the airlines’ best customers. But taken together, they also inoculate Congress from the chaos Washington is causing.
Apparently just as fed up as the rest of us, Atlanta’s Delta Airlines announced this week that it is suspending its stand-alone service for members of Congress until the TSA is fully funded.
“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” the statement read. “Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”
Senate Republicans are scrambling to break the five-and-a-half-week partial government shutdown, floating a plan to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security while cutting out some of the most politically charged immigration programs, according to senior GOP sources familiar with the talks.
The framework began to take shape after a White House meeting late Monday and is expected to dominate discussions at Tuesday’s GOP Conference luncheon on Capitol Hill.
The Democrats’ partial government shutdown just crossed the one-month mark, and Americans trying to catch a flight are paying the price. Security lines stretch for three hours or more, and workers aren’t getting paid.
The shutdown started on February 14, when Democrats blocked a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, as a form of protest against immigration enforcement. And now, Elon Musk is stepping in to do what Democrats apparently can’t. While Democrats and Republicans duke it out, roughly 64,000 TSA employees are classified as essential workers — meaning they’re required to show up every single day, paycheck or not.
“I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.”
President Trump said in a Sunday post that he supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers wearing masks during operations targeting “hardened criminals,” while also calling for agents to go without masks during their work at airports.
“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful “Border Czar,” Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy. I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc. Thank you! President DJT” the post read.
Agents were deployed to airports on Monday to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers as Democratic lawmakers continue to withhold full funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
More than willing to hold Americans’ ease of travel hostage, Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and his Democratic allies in the U.S. Senate initiated a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security last month, conditioning the passage of the FY2026 DHS appropriations bill on restrictions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operations.
This Democratic denial of funding that has survived over four votes on theme has manifested in long lines and headaches at airports across the country — especially at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which urged travelers on Monday morning to “arrive at least 4 hours early” on account of Transportation Security Administration staffing constraints and the correlated “longer than normal wait times at security checkpoints.”
‘We thought we would be safe enough.’
President Donald Trump is demanding that any deal with Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security includes an agreement on requiring photo identification and proof of citizenship in federal elections
The demand merges two battles that Congress has failed to resolve.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night.
“In other words, lump everything together as one, and VOTE!!! Kill the Filibuster, and stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.”
The SAVE America Act, if signed into law, would require photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Trump has called for the bill to include restrictions on transgender procedures for minors, transgender participation in women’s sports, and mail-in ballots.
The Democrat Party is continuing to refuse to support any DHS funding bill until ICE is “reformed” to the point of being feckless at removing illegal aliens. Lines grow in airports, and TSA agents are starting to call in sick, not wanting to work without pay (even though they will receive their pay when the shutdown ends). National security concerns are only heightened in lieu of a slew of recent Islamist attacks on American soil. The DNC media continues to protect the Democrat Party from being blamed for the shutdown, choosing instead to blame Republicans.
While the Senate works to push through a new DHS head, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), the White House is claiming it has attempted to negotiate with the Democrats but has received no response. They released a letter to the Democrats, offering concessions on five points, expanding body-camera usage, limiting civil immigration enforcement activities at “sensitive areas,” improving DHS detention facility oversight, enforcing visible officer identification, and NOT deporting U.S. citizens.
The letter claims, “The Administration has worked in good faith to again reach bipartisan agreement on full funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security and institute common–sense operational improvements to federal immigration enforcement operations that enhance the safety of American communities. Democrats must stop holding the safety and security of the American people hostage and move forward with fully funding DHS.”
White House Offers Concessions On DHS Funding To End Shutdown – Daily Caller
The White House outlined five reforms they’re willing to grant Democrats, including expanding body–worn cameras by DHS law enforcement, limiting civil immigration enforcement activities at some sensitive locations, increasing oversight of DHS detention facilities, enforcing visible officer identification and not deporting U.S. citizens.
“The Administration has worked in good faith to again reach bipartisan agreement on full funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security and institute common–sense operational improvements to federal immigration enforcement operations that enhance the safety of American communities,” the letter reads.
“Democrats must stop holding the safety and security of the American people hostage and move forward with fully funding DHS,” the letter adds.
Some airports saw nearly 40% of TSA officers call out sick, an absentee rate significantly higher than normal levels, which typically hover around 2%.
Houston’s Hobby International Airport reported the highest callout rate at 40.8%, another major hit after 55% of workers called out over the weekend.
New Orleans and Atlanta saw 35.8% and 34.6% of workers call out sick, respectively. Other major hubs also saw elevated absences, including 30.1% at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and 29.1% at Pittsburgh International Airport.
During Tuesday morning’s cable news morning shows on MS NOW and CNN, blame was placed on Republicans for the lasting DHS shutdown caused by Democrat protests of immigration enforcement and ICE funding. The hosts of CNN This Morning, CNN News Central, and, of course, MS NOW’s Morning Joe ignored the Democrats’ impact on the shutdown, a growing media trend.
In a tease for the News Central segment, CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish teed up the story as a Republican attack on Democrats:
Okay, you guys, we want to talk a little bit more about the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security enters another week and as we mentioned earlier, very long lines at the airport as a result. So, Republicans want voters to blame Democrats. We’re going to talk about how this is going to play out.
In a tease for CNN News Central, CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish minimized the Democrats impact on the DHS shutdown and impacts to the TSA.
Instead, she stated “Republicans want voters to blame Democrats” for the shutdown. pic.twitter.com/UWdcdOu6s9
— Nick (@nspin310) March 17, 2026
President Donald Trump’s new nominee for secretary of homeland security, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., prepares to appear before the Senate, Democrats continue to keep the Department of Homeland Security shut down.
“It’s extremely disappointing that Democrats are once again putting petty politics over the safety and security of our nation,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal.
Pfluger, a House Homeland Security Committee member who chairs the subcommittee on cybersecurity, spoke to The Daily Signal before Mullin’s Wednesday appearance on Capitol Hill.
Mullin will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning. The Oklahoma senator is Trump’s choice to replace former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
As a kid from Westville, it has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Oklahoma for the past thirteen years in both the House and Senate.
I am grateful to President Trump for nominating me to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to…
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) March 5, 2026
On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN NewsNight,” CNN Senior Commentator Van Jones said that “Democrats have to stick to their guns” on the DHS shutdown “because, as inconvenient as it is in an airport, it’s a lot more inconvenient to have ICE agents doing all kinds of terrible stuff, and they should be put back in a box.”
Host Abby Phillip asked, “This is starting to affect people. Van, you were saying you were in Austin this weekend. Is it time for Democrats to compromise?”
Jones answered, “No, I think Democrats have to stick to their guns, because, as inconvenient as it is in an airport, it’s a lot more inconvenient to have ICE agents doing all kinds of terrible stuff, and they should be put back in a box. However, I was in Austin, trying to leave South by Southwest. I had a 6 a.m. flight. I got there at 3 a.m. There were people, literally outside, wrapped around. It was complete — unbelievable lines. I had PreCheck and CLEAR. I barely made my flight. And then, they pulled the plane out, because it’s time to go, but the plane’s only half full, and the bags are there…so, we literally had to sit on the tarmac for an hour and then come back to re-balance the plane. Meanwhile, the people who could have made the plane balanced were stuck. It was just — the whole thing was so nutty.”
Senate Republicans are warning that the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown is unfolding at a dangerous moment for national security, as intelligence officials monitor potential Iranian retaliation and sleeper-cell activity inside the United States.
Federal officials have raised concerns that Iran may attempt to activate sleeper cells or carry out attacks on U.S. soil as the war with the Islamic Republic intensifies.
Despite those warnings, Senate Democrats again blocked an effort to reopen DHS this week, prolonging a partial shutdown that has now stretched nearly four weeks.
Democrats are celebrating their continued shutdown of the DHS even AFTER the original reason for the shutdown, Kristi Noem’s continued leadership of the department, is already gone. President Trump has transferred Noem to South America to lead a new security project down there.
Yet, the Democrats continue to allow the funding to pass the Senate, keeping the shutdown going. Lines are beginning to get longer and longer at airports as the DHS runs out funding and can no longer provide the basic security it currently is.
ED. NOTE: The existence of the DHS is a constitutional question that should not be forgotten, but this shutdown is not about opposition to the DHS, it’s purely about opposition to the Trump program being executed. They mean to save Progmerica from the America Trump is, in part, allowing to reform itself in the ashes of this broken land.
Democrats’ Shutdown Stunt Throws Major Airports Around the Country Into Chaos – westernjournal.com
With spring break just around the corner for swathes of Americans, travel season will soon be upon us.
And if Democrats don’t get their act together, the travel season is going to be an absolute nightmare for people — which it already is.
For the unaware, the Department of Homeland Security is currently shut down, as there is an ongoing congressional budget dispute over the agency.
The inability to reconcile those differences has left various branches overseen by DHS to be shut down, including the Transportation Security Administration.
Democrats specifically have been utterly insistent that Immigration and Customs Enforcement must undergo massive reform before any such budget is approved.
President Donald Trump slammed congressional Democrats for holding out on funding the Department of Homeland Security amid threats of terrorism from Iran.
When asked about reports that Iran has activated terrorist sleeper cells abroad, Trump said his administration is “very much on top of it,” though the ongoing DHS shutdown is a challenge.
“One of the things we have to do is get the Democrats to stop the Democrat shutdown,” he said. “Because, as you know, the apparatus that looks into that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and the Democrats have shut it down, which tells you they probably hate our country a lot, but the Democrats have to open that up.”
The agency has been shut down for 24 days over Democrat demands to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump said he has “very, very good intelligence” on Iran’s sleeper cells. However, he said the shutdown prevents the administration from handling them as they want.
There were two more votes held in Congress on Thursday in hopes of fully funding the federal government, in both the U.S. House of Representative and the Senate, by covering part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The measures had something of a mixed reception.
As of late Sunday, at least three U.S. military members will be coming home in caskets — among the first casualties of the Trump administration’s “regime change” campaign in Iran. There will “likely be more” to come in the days ahead, President Donald Trump warned. He said U.S. operations in Iran will continue until all of the administration’s objectives are met. The details of those objectives remained foggy Sunday.
While the days-old military operation is far from Mission Accomplished, it did check off a significant box: taking out Iran’s evil-as-poison supreme leader, or the “avuncular and magnanimous” religious scholar as the inexhaustible clown car that is the New York Times described a guy who legitimately could be likened to Adolf Hitler. Old Uncle Khamenei is dead now, and presumably checking into hotel hell (You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave).
As my late grandfather was fond of pointing out, it’s a tough world, but sometimes you get a laugh out of it. Case in point: Democrats in and out of Congress were whining for more oversight of the actions of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), but now the partial government shutdown that Democrats voted for and caused has curtailed the very department that was carrying out that oversight – the Department of Homeland Security.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) sharply rebuked fellow Senate Democrats after becoming the lone member of his party to side with Republicans in voting to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
In a fiery statement, Fetterman warned that Democrats were choosing party loyalty over the country’s security.
The standoff erupted as Senate Democrats refused to support funding for DHS in pursuit of sweeping restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
