Senate GOP losing patience with Speaker Johnson as DHS faces crisis

Source: The Hill

04/17/26 6:00 AM ET


Senate Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated with Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision not to put a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the House floor for a vote as they fear the White House could soon run out of money to pay federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown.

GOP senators have been careful not to publicly criticize Johnson and House conservatives who are holding up the Senate-passed Homeland Security funding bill so as not to further inflame the situation. But they are warning that White House will soon be running out of flexibility to keep paying Homeland Security workers — including employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard and other critical agencies — if Congress doesn’t act soon.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she wants the House to act immediately on the package the Senate passed by unanimous consent before Easter that would fund much of the DHS but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Border Patrol. “I think that makes more sense in trying to move things quickly,” she said.

Murkowski acknowledged there’s mounting frustration among GOP senators over the failure of the House to vote on the Senate-passed package, which senators had hoped would provide a quick solution to the two-month-long impasse over Homeland Security funding.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5835537-senate-gop-mike-johnson-dhs/