Tertius News is an AI-native newsroom: an AI model reads the source articles linked below — on this story, all of them from one outlet — and extracts what that outlet reported, claim by claim. How this works →

Republican leaders agree to advance funding deal to end DHS shutdown

Congressional leaders have reached an agreement to advance a two-step funding plan that could end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. The proposal would fund most DHS operations but would exclude immigration enforcement agencies, which leaders plan to fund later through a separate process.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Apr 1–2, 2026 Published Aug 13

Lead

Congressional Republican leaders have agreed to advance legislation that would fund the majority of the Department of Homeland Security's operations, according to multiple reports. The move could signal an end to the longest funding lapse in US history.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan to fully fund the DHS as part of a two-step process, as reported by the Associated Press and other outlets. The agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they pursued separate plans that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix.

Coverage Comparison

Coverage of the announcement indicates the proposal represents a return to a bipartisan Senate plan worked out with Democrats that funds most of the department, with the exception of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Border Patrol. According to reports, Johnson and Thune have endorsed the plan that would exclude those agencies from the initial funding measure.

According to reports, the leaders plan to abandon an attempt pushed by House Republicans to fund all of DHS for 60 days, which Senate Democrats had vowed to block with a filibuster. The new approach would instead attempt to fund the remaining agencies through a separate legislative process.

The deal comes after the partial government shutdown caused significant disruptions, including security lines that stretched for hours at some airports last month, according to reports. The delays occurred as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, a subagency of DHS, quit their jobs or called out of work after going weeks without pay. Wait times eased earlier this week after President Donald Trump signed an order for TSA employees to receive paychecks, as reported in multiple sources.

Key Claims

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan to fully fund the DHS as part of a two-step process, according to a joint statement reported by multiple outlets.
The legislation would fund DHS while excluding money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection, according to reports.
The pact may conclude the longest such funding lapse in US history, which last month caused security lines to stretch for hours at some airports, as reported by a single outlet covering the TSA employee situation.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham has initiated a plan to write a measure funding ICE that could be passed with Republican votes alone, using the budget reconciliation procedure, according to reports.
The use of the budget reconciliation procedure to pass the measure would allow Republicans to fund ICE and other agencies involved in mass deportation efforts without Democratic support, according to one report.
The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to meet on a separate matter regarding a proposal for a $400 million ballroom project associated with President Trump's Washington residence, after a federal judge halted construction earlier this week, according to a single report.

Perspectives

Democratic Position

Democrats have objected to funding ICE and other agencies involved in mass deportation efforts unless the administration agreed to new rules governing agents' conduct when making immigration arrests, including a ban on wearing masks and a requirement that they seek judicial warrants before entering residences, according to reports.

Republican Strategy

Neither outcome in the two-step plan is guaranteed, and the strategy could still face opposition from within the GOP's own ranks even though Trump has given his support, according to reports citing the political dynamics on Capitol Hill.

Broader Political Context

Some reporting places this funding dispute within a broader narrative of the Trump administration's approach to government, describing nearly three months of what one outlet characterized as chaos in Washington, including the wholesale slashing of government jobs and defunding of US aid agencies. That same outlet suggested that Trump's declaration of "liberation day" on 2 April 2025, when he raised import tariffs, was a key moment in his presidency.

How this outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC

Framing: Our reading Neutral, focusing on the potential end to the partial government shutdown — Informative, with a slightly critical tone towards Trump's actions

Facts Included:

Republican plan to fund DHS could get first test vote later today
House speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune announced a plan to fully fund the DHS
The agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending the impasse
Trump had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington before declaring 'liberation day'
The wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge and the defunding of US aid agencies
Commission to vote on Trump's White House $400m ballroom project after injunction granted

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC

Framing: Our reading Neutral, focusing on the potential end to the partial government shutdown — Informative, with a neutral tone

Facts Included:

Congress's Republican leaders agreed to advance legislation to fund the majority of the DHS operations
The pact may conclude the longest such funding lapse in US history
The legislation would fund DHS while excluding money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection
Senate budget committee chair Lindsey Graham's plan to write a measure funding ICE
The use of the budget reconciliation procedure to pass the measure

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimHouse speaker Mike Johnson and Senate majority leader John Thune announced a plan to fully fund the DHS as part of a two-step process.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they pursued separate plans that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe pact may conclude the longest such funding lapse in US history, which last month caused security lines to stretch for hours at some airports as employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a subagency of DHS, quit their jobs or called out of work after going weeks without pay.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC
ClaimCongress's Republican leaders agreed to advance legislation to fund the majority of the DHS operations, with the exception of those involved in immigration enforcement.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC
ClaimThe legislation would fund DHS while excluding money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC
ClaimTrump had spent almost three months causing chaos in Washington before declaring 'liberation day'.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe wholesale slashing of government jobs under Doge and the defunding of US aid agencies had shown White House watchers that the US president was in a hurry to upset institutions he considered profligate or useless.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe National Capital Planning Commission will meet to decide on Donald Trump's White House $400m ballroom project, after a federal judge halted construction earlier this week.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 2, 2026, 10:30 AM UTC
ClaimSenate budget committee chair Lindsey Graham's plan to write a measure funding ICE could be passed with Republican votes alone, using the budget reconciliation procedure.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC
ClaimThe use of the budget reconciliation procedure to pass the measure would allow Republicans to fund ICE and other agencies involved in Trump's mass deportation campaign without Democratic support.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Apr 1, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: The Guardian — World 10 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-13