Lee calls on Senate to ditch spring recess, reconvene to fund DHS [View all]

Source: The Hill

03/28/26 4:22 PM ET


Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Saturday called on his Senate colleagues to cut their two-week recess short and return to Washington, as funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hangs in the balance.

“If you don’t want to fight fires, don’t become a firefighter. If you don’t want to take grueling votes at difficult hours and sometimes have to work longer than you want to, maybe you shouldn’t become a United States senator,” Lee said candidly during an appearance on Fox News.

The Senate left for Easter recess after passing by unanimous consent a proposal to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other critical DHS agencies, without money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, early Friday morning. The late-night deal came after weeks of negotiations aimed at ending the shutdown, which began on Feb. 14 over Democrats’ demands for sweeping changes in immigration enforcement operations.

Later Friday, the House passed a Republican-crafted bill that funded the entire agency — including ICE and Border Patrol — at current levels for eight weeks, then also left town. The differing approaches meant lawmakers were no closer to breaking the stalemate, prolonging a shutdown that is disrupting air travel across the country due to mounting TSA staffing challenges.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5805993-lee-calls-on-senate-to-ditch-spring-recess-reconvene-to-fund-dhs/