The U.S. government partially shut down early Saturday, even though the Senate passed a funding deal hours earlier.
The Senate voted 71-29 to approve five bills and a two-week stopgap measure that would give lawmakers more time to resolve disputes over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
But the House also must vote to approve the final version of the deal and is not scheduled to return to Washington until Monday. That prompted the federal government to shut down, likely for a short period of time, following last year’s record 43-day shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said during a House Republican conference call Friday afternoon that he supports the funding deal passed by the Senate, given President Donald Trump’s support, MS NOW reported.
According to MS NOW, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he expected the House of Commons to pass the bill on Monday. If approved by the House, the spending package would be sent to President Trump for his signature.
Congressional-authorized appropriations for bills funding the Departments of State, Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies and programs expired Saturday.
Russell Vaught, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, told federal agency heads in a memo sent Friday that employees “should report to work on their next regular shift to conduct an orderly shutdown.”
“The Administration will continue to work with Congress to address recently raised concerns to complete fiscal year 2026 appropriations,” Vought wrote.
“We hope that this course will be short,” he added.
The Senate agreement removed funding for the Department of Homeland Security and included five other bills to appropriate funding for government agencies.
The deal calls for temporary, stop-gap funding for DHS, which has come under sharp criticism from Democrats for its aggressive immigration enforcement in Minnesota, with long-term funding issues to be revisited later.
The deal stalled in the Senate after resistance from several Republicans prevented lawmakers from considering the package quickly.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, refused early Friday to lift a hold on the bill that would criminalize so-called sanctuary city policies unless he was “guaranteed a vote.”
Mr. Graham wanted to impose criminal penalties on state and local officials who “deliberately obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
He also wanted amendments to address the so-called Arctic Frost investigation by then-Special Counsel Jack Smith. The amendment would have required officials to notify senators if phone records were obtained in a criminal investigation.
The House last week included language in a spending package to repeal a law that would have allowed senators to sue for up to $500,000 in damages if phone records were obtained during the Arctic frost period. Graham criticized the move by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).
In a Thursday post on Truth Social, President Trump encouraged lawmakers to support the deal, which would provide most of the federal funding through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Senate leaders had planned to vote on the deal Thursday night, but Graham’s support killed that effort.
