Politics

There will no doubt be shenanigans as this proposal eventually moves forward. Must be nice to get a paid two-week Easter break in a secular country.

An end to the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may be in sight, after Congress’s Republican leaders on Wednesday agreed to advance legislation that would fund most of the agency’s operations, with the exception of those involved in immigration enforcement.

The pact may conclude the longest such funding lapse in US history, which last month caused security lines to stretch for hours at some airports as employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a subagency of DHS, quit their jobs or called out of work after going weeks without pay.

Wait times eased earlier this week, after Donald Trump signed an order for TSA employees to receive paychecks.

Let's just pause here and remember that Trump does not have the power to rule by diktat, but here we are. If that word looks foreign, change the "k" to a "c," and ... er, it looks awfully familiar.

In a joint statement, Mike Johnson, House speaker, and John Thune, Senate majority leader, said they would move to pass a measure, approved by the Senate unanimously last week, which would fund DHS while excluding money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection.

They would also abandon an attempt pushed by House Republicans to fund all of the DHS for 60 days, which Senate Democrats vowed to block with a filibuster.