March 24, 2026

After more than a month of political stalemate, the Senate Democrats are finally flinching, and a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security seems within reach – even if the path looks like a compromise designed to please no one.

Key Senate Republicans left the White House late Monday in a noticeably upbeat mood, telling colleagues that there is now a realistic framework to get DHS running again, even as President Donald Trump continues to demand that the SAVE America Act be “welded in” to any funding package.

According to a report from Punchbowl News, the outlines of the emerging agreement would fund nearly all of DHS while carving out ICE’s migrant removal operations, then use a separate reconciliation bill to backfill ICE and press ahead with the two key provisions of the SAVE America Act (proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot in federal election) that Trump has made very clear is his top legislative priority.

 

Senate Democrats appear ready to break a month-long deadlock as a tentative deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security emerges, proposing to fund most of DHS while excluding ICE’s migrant removal operations, which would be addressed separately through a budget reconciliation bill that also aims to advance key provisions of President Trump’s SAVE America Act, despite his demand to link it directly to DHS funding. Republican leaders suggest a two-step strategy to pass ICE funding and SAVE Act measures via reconciliation to bypass Democratic opposition, though uncertainty remains over whether enough votes exist to pass the package, with urgency growing due to the chaos caused by TSA security delays.

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