House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., announced Wednesday a path to end the nation’s longest partial government shutdown in history, reversing course after the funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security reached 47 days .

The announcement marks a stunning reversal for Johnson, who was facing pressure from conservatives to oppose the Senate deal and had previously called it a “crap sandwich” just days earlier.

“In the coming days, Republicans in the Senate and House will be following through on the President’s directive by fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security on two parallel tracks: through the appropriations process and through the reconciliation process,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

The two-track approach would first fund most DHS agencies including the Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, and Federal Emergency Management Agency through a bipartisan deal, while leaving Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection to be funded later through a party-line budget reconciliation process that bypasses Democratic opposition.

The breakthrough came after President Donald Trump intervened Friday with an executive order to resume TSA pay, providing political cover for congressional leaders to strike a compromise. Trump took executive action Friday, ordering newly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to resume paying TSA employees .

The shutdown’s human toll has been severe. Around 95%, or more than 61,000, of TSA employees are deemed essential and must continue working to protect the traveling public during a shutdown, while not getting paid. TSA employees have already worked 87 days without getting paid in FY 2026, and by March 27, nearly $1 billion in payroll had not been paid in a timely manner .

Since the government funding lapsed in February, TSA has already lost around 460 officers and daily call out rates at airport checkpoints have increased from 4% (pre-shutdown) to 11% nationwide, with multiple airports experiencing greater than 40% and 50% call out rates .

The staffing crisis created travel chaos nationwide. This is reducing the Agency’s operational capacity at airports, increasing wait times to over four and half hours at certain airports, raising major security risks and missed flights for passengers . The security line stretches the length of the terminal building outside and snakes around inside as TSA is short-staffed due to callouts and the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown. It is almost a mile long and takes more than 20 minutes to walk its length at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Republican leadership for the prolonged standoff. “For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction. Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered. We were clear from the start: fund critical security, protect Americans, and no blank check for reckless ICE and Border Patrol enforcement. We were united, held the line, and refused to let Republican chaos win,” Schumer said Wednesday.

The impasse stemmed from Democratic demands for reforms to immigration enforcement practices before agreeing to fund ICE operations. “I think our caucus remains united around the same premise: We’re not going to fund an immigration enforcement operation that doesn’t obey the law,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters.

Republicans had grown increasingly frustrated with the negotiations. Earlier this week, Thune said of a Democratic counteroffer: “It’s not even close to being real. They know better. They’re asking for things that have already been turned down. So it just seems like they’re going in circles, spinning, spinning.”

The shutdown began February 14 after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown , sparking Democratic demands for immigration enforcement reforms before agreeing to fund DHS.

The first track would fund all of DHS except ICE and Customs and Border Protection, which Democrats won’t agree to fund without reforms to immigration enforcement operations. Those two agencies already have separate funding through the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping GOP domestic policy package, that Trump signed into law last year .

Trump threw his weight behind the two-track approach Wednesday, posting on Truth Social that Republicans would “fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster. We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us.”

Trump said he wants the legislation on his desk by June 1 — an ambitious timeline that dramatically increased pressure on Republicans .

The funding for TSA workers through Trump’s executive order raises legal questions. Devin O’