The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner has renewed calls from Republicans to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for 73 days over intense political gridlock.
Lawmakers are returning to Washington on Monday for what is expected to be a whirlwind week on Capitol Hill — with top members already receiving briefings on the incident from the U.S. Secret Service, congressional sources tell ABC News. The U.S. Secret Service is one of 12 DHS agencies that face a lapse in congressionally appropriated funding, raising concerns ahead of several upcoming high-profile events.
Here’s what to know about the state of play on DHS funding.
Will DHS be funded this week?
Though there are increasing calls for Congress to act as soon as possible, funding for the agency is not likely to be approved and on President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the week.
That’s because the process Congress must work through sets up a timeline that draws the debate into May.
Congress is struggling to fund the agency because of sharp disagreements that rest across both parties and both chambers. The House and Senate have each taken actions to fund DHS, which the opposing chamber has, for various reasons, refused to pass.
Security officials evacuate U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, April 25, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
What is the state of play in the Senate?
The DHS shutdown originates in the Senate, where Democrats have, since the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agent in Minneapolis in January, been denying the votes necessary to fund all of DHS unless they can secure reforms to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Because 60 votes are necessary to fund an agency in the Senate, Democratic opposition has been enough to repeatedly quash attempts to fund the department in the upper chamber.
Unable to overcome this impasse, senators in March coalesced around a separate proposal that would fund most of the agencies within DHS except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection. At the same time, Republicans announced they would aim to pass a separate bill that would fund ICE and CBP for three years through a budgeting tool called reconciliation, which allows them to sidestep Democrats’ objections. Republicans passed their budget blueprint after an overnight voting marathon last week.
The Senate has also twice passed legislation to fund all of DHS except for ICE and parts of CBP. Those votes were unanimous.
Senators, including many Senate Republicans, say it is now incumbent on the House to take up their unanimously-passed DHS funding bill and to move on their reconciliation package — breaking immigration enforcement off from the rest of DHS appropriations.
What is the state of play in the House?
The House, meanwhile, says Senate Democrats should stop blocking the full-year DHS funding bill that House Republicans have repeatedly passed.
House Republican leaders are eyeing a floor vote on the Senate’s budget resolution to fund ICE and CBP as early as Wednesday.
It’s not clear if Speaker Mike Johnson — who can only afford two GOP defections with perfect attendance — has enough support to clear the resolution this week.
Passing the resolution is the first step in a long process to funding the immigration enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Plus, it’s unclear when the House will take up funding for the rest of the agency. The speaker has suggested that movement on funding the rest of DHS is dependent on progress with budget reconciliation.
The U.S. Capitol is silhouetted against the a hazy morning sky, April 27, 2026, in Washington.
Matt Rourke/AP
The plan to separate parts of DHS funding has sparked outrage in the House Republican conference, presenting Johnson with an enormous challenge to fund the agency by the end of the month.
Since the start of the shutdown, the House has passed a bill to fully fund all of DHS for fiscal year 2027 at least four times — even picking off some Democrats along the way.
“This a national emergency, and every member of Congress needs to put their country over party and get the Department of Homeland Security funded,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing on Monday.
“With the World Cup, America 250, the 2028 Olympics and a presidential election all ahead, the Democrats’ obstruction is placing an enormous and totally pointless burden on the Secret Service that can get more people killed,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt told ABC News’ Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott that Saturday night was not a security protocol failure and said Trump was satisfied with the response from Secret Service and law enforcement.
“The president, the vice president and the first lady being pulled to safety. That is not done if there’s a lapse. So Secret Service did their jobs well,” Leavitt said.
How long has DHS been shut down and who is affected?
DHS has been shut down since Feb. 14, making it the longest shutdown on record.
Due to several executive actions by the Trump administration, select DHS employees have been getting paid through the shutdown — including active-duty members of the Coast Guard and TSA agents.
ICE officers and law enforcement officers at CBP are also being paid due to funding in the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed by Congress last summer.
Earlier this month, all DHS employees received back pay from the beginning of this shutdown after Trump signed a memorandum directing they be paid out of previously appropriated DHS funds. This includes Secret Service agents, Coast Guard civilian staff, as well as employees at FEMA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
But DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who took over the agency last month, said there will be no money left to pay its employees after April — increasing pressure on lawmakers to act by the end of this week.
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