House GOP scrambles to clinch votes as shutdown ending faces test

House Republican leaders returned to the Capitol Monday racing to secure near-unanimous support for a procedural vote today that would end a partial federal government shutdown that began Saturday. The measure would fund most of the government through Sept. 30 and extend Department of Homeland Security funding for two weeks while lawmakers negotiate changes related to immigration enforcement.

Speaker Mike Johnson has framed the approach as a strategy laid down by the White House. He said it was Trump's 'play call to do it this way. He had already conceded he wants to turn down the volume, so to speak. The speaker’s path is narrow: with perfect party-line attendance he can afford to lose only one Republican. That arithmetic has left GOP leaders scrambling to placate members who say they may block the bill unless their priorities are added.

President Donald Trump intervened publicly, urging unity on his social media site and warning against alterations. “There can be NO CHANGES at this time,” he wrote, and in a longer post added, “We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly — One that will not benefit Republicans or Democrats. I hope everyone will vote, YES!”

House leaders acknowledged the work ahead. “We always work till the midnight hour to get the votes... You never start the process with everybody on board. You work through it, and you could say that about every major bill we've passed,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, signaling a last-stage push to assemble the fragile coalition.

The House vote is only the first hurdle. In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune has teed up a separate test vote on a six-bill funding package for Thursday, a move intended to buy time for negotiations. Senate Republicans warn that stripping or significantly amending the package to satisfy objections over the DHS portion could unravel funding for multiple agencies — lawmakers cited the Pentagon as particularly vulnerable — and almost guarantee a longer shutdown.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have doubled down on objections to the Homeland Security funding language, demanding that the DHS bill be stripped and sidelined or that restrictions be imposed on immigration enforcement. Those demands set up an immediate bicameral clash: House leaders pushing a package tied to White House direction, and Senate Democrats insisting on preconditions that Republicans view as politically and logistically difficult to meet.

Senator Susan Collins said she spoke with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday but would not reveal details, underscoring the high-level consultations under way. Lawmakers return to negotiations under a compressed timetable: a two-week DHS extension in the House measure would give negotiators only a narrow window to reach agreement before critical deadlines.

Beyond the immediate political calculations, the standoff carries economic risk. Even temporary funding lapses disrupt federal operations and create uncertainty for contractors and markets sensitive to fiscal volatility. Republicans’ slim margin for error means the vote could hinge on last-minute concessions, and failure to pass the measures in both chambers would extend the partial shutdown, amplifying economic and administrative costs for agencies and citizens alike.