Congress returns on DHS

Congress came back to Washington on Monday with one federal department still partly shut down: the Department of Homeland Security. The House’s next floor session was set for 2:30 p.m. on April 13, with leaders preparing more votes on a funding fix. (live.house.gov) The shutdown began on February 14, 2026, when temporary funding for Homeland Security expired without a full-year appropriations law in place. Congress.gov says the lapse affects the department’s annual funding and that a new bill would cover the rest of fiscal year 2026 and provide back pay to affected workers. (congress.gov) The House already passed one Homeland Security funding bill, H.R. 7744, by a 221-209 vote on March 5. It passed another procedural vote tied to H.R. 7147 on March 27, 213-203, as Republicans tried again to move a shutdown-ending measure. (congress.gov) (clerk.house.gov) The fight is not over whether border agencies exist. Senate Democrats say Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection can keep operating with money from a separate law, while agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Coast Guard are the ones left shuttered or working without pay. (appropriations.senate.gov) That split explains why the shutdown has dragged on for nearly two months. Senate Democrats have pushed narrower bills to fund airport screeners, disaster relief, cyber defense, and the Coast Guard while talks continue over limits on immigration enforcement, and Senate Republicans have blocked those attempts, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Democratic staff. (appropriations.senate.gov) Republicans have framed the standoff the opposite way. House and Senate Republican appropriators say Democrats are prolonging a shutdown by refusing to pass a full Homeland Security bill that funds the entire department, including border and immigration operations. (appropriations.house.gov) (appropriations.senate.gov) Monday’s agenda reaches beyond Homeland Security. Democrats have also said they will force another vote on a war-powers measure aimed at ending unauthorized U.S. hostilities against Iran after Republicans blocked an earlier effort during a pro forma House session on April 9. (democraticleader.house.gov) (usatoday.com) The underlying resolution already exists in Congress. Congress.gov lists House Concurrent Resolution 38 as a measure directing the president, under the War Powers Resolution, to remove U.S. armed forces from unauthorized hostilities in Iran. (congress.gov) So the week opens with two separate tests of the House’s backlog: whether lawmakers can end a 58-day Homeland Security funding lapse, and whether they can force debate on presidential war powers after recess. (congress.gov) (live.house.gov)