The House on Friday passed its own legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security in full, even as the partial government shutdown stretched into its seventh week. Speaker Mike Johnson pushed forward with a temporary stopgap measure rather than accepting the Senate-passed DHS funding bill, which passed unanimously in the early hours of Friday morning.
Both chambers have now left Washington for a two-week recess, leaving the funding stalemate unresolved. The Senate bill, which passed unanimously, would fund DHS through the rest of the fiscal year. The House version represents a different approach to ending the shutdown that has left thousands of federal workers without pay.
President Trump on Friday signed a memo directing DHS to cut paychecks anyway, which could allow Transportation Security Administration officers to receive payments as soon as Monday.
The ongoing dysfunction has contributed to a record number of Congress members announcing their departure from Capitol Hill, according to multiple reports.
Meanwhile, protesters across the country are expected to participate in the third round of 'No Kings' rallies since Trump returned to office. Minnesota, which saw two fatal shootings by federal officers earlier this year, will take center stage in the weekend demonstrations. The events have drawn high-profile support, including musician Bruce Springsteen.
What the Right Is Saying
Conservative Republicans have defended the House approach, arguing that a temporary funding measure provides time to negotiate better terms for DHS spending. Supporters of the House bill say it fully funds the department while the Senate version does not adequately address border security priorities. Johnson has characterized the Senate bill as insufficient, calling it 'a joke' in his push for a stopgap that maintains leverage in negotiations. Conservative commentators have argued that the protests are politically motivated and do not represent mainstream American sentiment, suggesting the rallies are more about opposition to Trump than genuine policy concerns.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive Democrats and grassroots activists have seized on the DHS shutdown as evidence of Republican governing failure. Progressive groups have called for passing the Senate bill without conditions and criticized Johnson for prioritizing a temporary measure over a permanent funding solution. Organizers of the No Kings rallies have framed the protests as a broader rejection of what they describe as authoritarian tendencies in the Trump administration, pointing to the federal officers involved in the Minnesota shootings as examples of overreach. Democratic lawmakers who support the rallies have argued that the protests represent growing public opposition to administration policies.
What the Numbers Show
The partial government shutdown has now lasted 49 days, making it one of the longest federal funding gaps in recent history. Both chambers have passed different DHS funding measures — the Senate bill passed 100-0, while the House passed its own version on a party-line vote. TSA officers are among approximately 800,000 federal employees affected by the shutdown. The number of Congress members announcing retirement or resignation this cycle has exceeded previous records, with at least 30 House members and 5 senators reportedly leaving. The No Kings rallies are expected to take place in over 100 cities nationwide, matching the scale of previous demonstrations.
The Bottom Line
The DHS funding standoff remains unresolved as both chambers depart for a recess, with the Senate-passed bill waiting while the House pursues its own path forward. The No Kings rallies this weekend will test whether public pressure grows as the shutdown continues into a second month. With TSA officers potentially receiving paychecks due to Trump's memo, some immediate relief may come even as the broader funding fight continues. The record number of departures from Congress suggests institutional strain, though it remains unclear whether the shutdown directly influences individual decisions to leave.