The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday, April 30, 2026, to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security and end the shutdown [3].
The vote resolves a historic funding stalemate that left federal workers without pay and disrupted national security operations for over two months. While the measure restores most agency functions, it notably excludes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol [1, 2].
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) led the House in passing the legislation to resume the majority of the department's operations [1]. The move comes after weeks of mounting pressure to provide pay for federal employees who had been working without compensation during the lapse in appropriations [1, 4].
Reports on the exact duration of the shutdown vary slightly among news outlets. CBS News said the shutdown lasted 76 days [1], while Fox News said it was a 75-day standoff [3]. This period marks a record-setting length for a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security [1, 4].
The bill was passed in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. [1, 2]. The legislation focuses on restoring essential services to the public and stabilizing the agency's internal infrastructure, though the exclusion of border enforcement agencies suggests that the underlying political disputes over immigration remain unresolved [4, 6].
By funding the bulk of the agency, the House has effectively ended the broader shutdown state. However, the specific carve-outs for ICE and Border Patrol mean that those specific sectors will remain without the funding provided by this particular bill [1, 2].
“The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday, April 30, 2026, to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security.”
The partial restoration of DHS funding represents a pragmatic compromise to prevent total agency collapse, but the exclusion of border-related agencies indicates that immigration policy remains the primary point of contention between political factions. By ending the shutdown for most employees, the House has relieved immediate economic pressure on federal workers while maintaining a strategic lever over border security funding.
