US House passes bill funding much of DHS, ending agency’s longest shutdown

The US House of Representatives has voted to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security – excluding immigration enforcement operations – and end the longest government agency shutdown in history. The deal struck on Thursday aims to draw a line under a 75-day impasse that had threatened airport chaos and exposed fresh strains within the Republican party. In a swift voice vote, the Republican-controlled chamber approved a bipartisan measure to fund much of the sprawling department, including the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which now goes to Donald Trump to sign into law. But the legislation stops short of covering key immigration enforcement arms such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), leaving the fiercest battle over Trump’s deportation agenda for another day. The vote came after days of mounting pressure on Mike Johnson , the House speaker, whose wafer-thin majority had repeatedly failed to break the deadlock. Although the Senate had passed the package unanimously weeks ago, the bill had languished in the House as conservative Republicans demanded any funding deal be tied to a long-term plan to bankroll the White House’s immigration crackdown. That broader strategy began to take shape on Wednesday when House Republicans pushed through a budget resolution to eventually provide $70bn for immigration enforcement though a separate process and without Democrats. …