- The U.S. Senate passed a bill to fund most of Homeland Security.
- The bill restores pay for airport security but excludes immigration enforcement limits.
- Democrats oppose funding without reforms; Republicans plan separate ICE and CBP funding.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed legislation early on Friday that would restore funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security, including airport security, but would not resolve a dispute over immigration enforcement that prompted the disruption in the first place.
The bill would restore pay for airport security screeners, disaster-response workers and members of the U.S. Coast Guard, who have worked without pay since mid-February, when funding expired. It does not include new limits on the agents carrying out President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown — a key demand of Democrats.
The partial government shutdown did not affect that activity, as the two agencies responsible for carrying it out, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, could draw on a separate source of funding. Trump's Republicans are expected to try to secure additional funding for those agencies in separate legislation.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives must also pass the bill before Trump can sign it into law, with a vote possible later on Friday.
Senate Democrats blocked DHS funding after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
The shutdown has led to long lines at many U.S. airports, as many airport security officers who have gone without pay have called in sick or resigned.
Airports in Houston and Atlanta told passengers to expect wait times of up to four hours at security checkpoints on Friday.
Since mid-February, Democrats and Republicans offered dueling bills to break the logjam, but neither party had garnered enough support for passage.
Republicans would not go along with reforms to ICE and CBP operations that Democrats had insisted upon, resulting in the six-week standoff.
That has caused widespread disruptions at airports.
Trump said on Thursday he would take executive action to pay 50,000 airport security workers in an effort to address staff shortages that have snarled travel around the country.
"Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump's rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms," Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
Republican Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Democrats had damaged Congress' annual funding process, weakened national security, and set "a precedent that they may one day come to regret."
"Democrats remained intransigent and unreasonable with their list of demands," she said in a statement.
Republicans are expected to next try to fund ICE and CBP through a cumbersome procedure that would allow them to bypass Democratic opposition.
