Congressional Roundup: Shutdown Ends (Mostly)
May 5, 2026
Congress had a busy week to close out the month of April with several key pieces of legislation advancing after numerous delays. The House moved some longstanding legislation across the finish line last week before lawmakers left for a one week recess.
DHS Authorization Moves Forward: Congress funded most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which had been shutdown from February 14 through April 30, they did so on a voice vote, meaning that those in favor of the bill and those opposed was not officially recorded.
The legislation—originally passed by the Senate—funds the DHS through September 30 of this year. It covers the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other offices within DHS that don’t deal with immigration enforcement, more on that below.
- The core issue throughout the shutdown had been whether or not to fund ICE with Democrats seeking a number of reforms to the agency.
- The Senate's DHS funding bill had stalled in the lower chamber for more than a month. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), had declined to put the bill on the floor as it didn’t fund immigration enforcement.
- Reportedly, Johnson changed course under pressure from the White House as they noted they would not be able to pay DHS employees starting later this month if the bill was not passed.
While the shutdown is largely over, the effects will continue to be felt for weeks or months to come. Over 1,100 TSA employees have quit since the shutdown began, with most expected not to return, and many DHS initiatives had stalled.
Reconciliation 2.0: Republicans are using the reconciliation process to fund ICE and CBP for three years, which will circumvent the need for Democratic votes in the Senate.
- The House passed the budget resolution last week, which now unlocks the procedures to advance the effort. The Senate passed its own resolution the week prior.
- As a refresher, budget reconciliation is a special legislative process in the Senate that allows certain tax and spending bills to pass with a simple majority (51 votes) instead of the usual 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
- This is the same legislative maneuver that the GOP used to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.
- In hopes of expediting passage, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) wants to keep the bill focused on immigration enforcement funding.
What’s next: President Trump has set an aggressive timeline of June 1 to have this bill signed into law, which would mark the fastest budget reconciliation process in history. However, with competing priorities on what should be included in the bill and razor thin margins in the House, the result is far from certain.
FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act): Congress has spent much of the last two months grappling with reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which governs federal surveillance authority of non-Americans aboard.
- Leadership has still not been able to clench a long-term deal with FISA skeptics, thus the House by a vote of 261-111 passed a 45 day short-term extension of Section 702. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent.
- Lawmakers remain divided over the scope of reforms, particularly around warrant requirements for querying U.S. persons’ data but agreed, at least for now, that allowing the authority to lapse was not an option.
- The extension buys time for continued negotiations, though the debate exposed persistent fault lines between national security priorities and civil liberties concerns.
The Farm Bill: The House passed the 2026 Farm Bill last week by a 224–200 bipartisan vote, marking progress after years of delays.
- The bill updates agricultural, conservation, and rural development programs, but it still has an uphill battle to pass the Senate before becoming law.
- The legislation remains politically contentious, with major debates over SNAP food aid cuts, farm subsidies, and regulatory issues (like pesticide rules and livestock standards). The Senate is expected to revise key provisions
Advancing these bills was an important victory for Speaker Johnson who navigated bitter internal GOP divisions to deliver some much needed wins for the GOP.
However, many items are still on the docket for when they return on May 12. In the meantime, the midterm elections continue to draw closer, and with just six months to go, passing legislation and garnering bipartisan compromise will become more and more difficult.
Contact James Montfort (jmontfort@crefc.org) with any questions.
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