President Donald Trump blasted fellow Republicans over the deepening Department of Homeland Security funding crisis as senators fled the capital for a two-week recess with no sign of a resolution in sight.
The furious standoff reached a new boiling point Friday as the House and Senate passed vastly different bills creating a new deadlock as lawmakers leave Washington.
Senators including Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders were seen boarding flights out of Washington DC shortly after the Senate passed its overnight funding bill, a measure that collapsed hours later in the House.
Sanders was seen departing in a first class cabin seat TMZ reported even as 61,000 TSA workers remained without pay due to the impasse.
As lawmakers left town, President Trump erupted while speaking to Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich from Air Force One.
He made it clear he supported the House rejection of the Senate bill and zeroed in on the omission of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
‘It wasn’t good. It wasn’t appropriate,’ he told Heinrich before suggesting the Senate should scrap the filibuster and force a vote.
‘Now what they should do is they should terminate the filibuster, Jacqui, and just vote, but you have three or four Republicans in there that are not doing the right thing,’ he added.
Senator Bernie Sanders left Washington, DC shortly after the Senate passed its overnight funding bill, with his office saying he was heading to a scheduled rally
President Donald Trump criticized the Senate funding bill, saying any measure that does not fund ICE and CBP ‘is not appropriate’
Lawmakers left the capital despite the DHS shutdown nearing record length and affecting tens of thousands of workers
‘This whole thing is about the Democrats wanting to have open borders, no ICE, no Border Patrol. These people are crazy. They want open borders, they want no Border Patrol, they want no ICE, they want no nothing, except for criminals to pour into our country and it’s not going to happen.’
The Senate had worked through the night to pass a bipartisan bill funding most of DHS, but notably excluding ICE and parts of CBP, a sticking point that enraged conservatives.
By Friday evening, the House blew it up. In a razor-thin 213–203 vote, Republicans pushed through a rival short-term funding bill that would fund the entire department for 60 days – a move widely seen as dead on arrival in the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson didn’t mince words.
‘This gambit that was done last night is a joke,’ Johnson said, placing the blame squarely on Democrats.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer fired back, warning the House plan would go nowhere and prolong the shutdown.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted the Senate bill could have passed the House if leadership had allowed a vote.
‘This could end, and should end, today,’ Jeffries said. But instead, Washington ground to a halt and then began emptying out for the Easter break.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned the House bill would be ‘dead on arrival in the Senate’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Senate bill could pass the House if leadership allowed a vote, adding ‘this could end, and should end, today’
House Speaker Mike Johnson called the Senate-passed funding bill ‘a joke’ and rejected it outright
TSA staffing shortages during the shutdown have caused long airport security lines across the country. Pictured, Terminal 5 at JFK on Friday
Senators were seen heading for exits, with reports of lawmakers boarding flights and beginning their recess even as negotiations collapsed.
Cruz was photographed seated on a plane departing for Texas, while others slipped out of the capital in quick succession.
Sanders’ office pushed back saying he was heading to a previously scheduled ‘No Kings’ rally in Minnesota, and not heading on vacation.
The collapse leaves DHS funding in limbo. The shutdown, now approaching record length, has left roughly 61,000 workers without pay and triggered severe disruptions at airports, where TSA staffing shortages caused security lines to stretch for hours.
In response, Trump signed an emergency executive order on Friday directing DHS to pay Transportation Security Administration officers, a move that is expected to ease pressure on airport operations.
‘America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,’ Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments.
‘I have determined that these circumstances constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security.’
Officials said paychecks could begin arriving as early as Monday.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Senators Sanders and Cruz for additional comment.
