DHS funding bill heads to Trump, ending shutdown for department employees

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to reporters after passage of a Homeland Security Department funding bill, on April 30, 2026 at the U.S. Capitol. DHS has been shutdown for weeks as a funding patch is worked out between House and Senate Republicans. Graeme Sloan/Getty Images The House approved a bill Thursday that will fund almost every agency in the Department of Homeland Security for the next five months, sending the measure to President Donald Trump weeks after the Senate unanimously approved it.Once the bill becomes law, it will end the shutdown that began in mid-February and has at times stalled paychecks for federal employees throughout much of the department, including those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration.The voice vote to pass the DHS appropriations bill finally marks an end to the annual government funding process that was supposed to be wrapped up before the end of September. There were three shutdowns in all through the fall and early spring.Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said during brief floor debate it was “about damn time” Republican leaders brought the bill to the floor.DeLauro said that “from the outset” Democrats wanted