House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced Wednesday they will accept the Senate’s plan to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security , reversing course after Johnson just days earlier had labeled the same deal a “crap sandwich” and called it “a joke” .

The agreement comes as the DHS shutdown reached its 47th day Wednesday , making it the longest in U.S. history, surpassing the 43-day, governmentwide lapse in appropriations last fall . The leaders said they will pursue a two-track approach: first funding most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, then attempting to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation .

The dramatic reversal came just hours after President Donald Trump urged Republicans in a Truth Social post to pass funding for ICE and CBP through budget reconciliation by June 1 . “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 wrote.

“In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited,” Johnson and Thune wrote in their joint statement.

The shutdown has created chaos at airports nationwide, with multiple airports experiencing greater than 40% callout rates and nearly 500 of the agency’s nearly 50,000 transportation security officers quitting during the shutdown . Security lines at major airports have snaked around terminals and caused significant flight delays , with wait times at TSA checkpoints remaining as long as an hour at some major airports .

President Trump on Friday ordered DHS to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the airport congestion , and most TSA workers began receiving retroactive paychecks Monday for pay periods 4 and 5 . However, union officials expressed concern that several officers “have received incorrect pay amounts due to missing overtime payments and improper tax withholdings” .

The agreement represents a stunning about-face for Johnson, who had led House Republicans in rejecting the bipartisan Senate deal just Friday night, instead approving an entirely different plan that prolonged the shutdown . Johnson and his GOP leadership team had refused to pass the Senate bill, calling it a “joke” after being stunned by the Senate’s middle-of-the-night agreement .

The rift between the chambers exposed deep tensions within Republican leadership. The shutdown and Republican efforts to resolve it revealed fractures between Johnson and Thune , with Thune navigating the 60-vote threshold requiring bipartisan compromise while Johnson operates with a paper-thin majority and constant pressure from Republicans willing to revolt .

“They cut off communications with us last night,” Johnson told his members on a Friday conference call. “The Senate did this without informing me or even all of their members or the White House. No one was involved” , according to a source on the call. However, Thune and GOP staff had spent hours drafting the text of the bill, which finally passed the Senate in the early morning hours of Friday .

The partial shutdown has left more than 100,000 DHS employees facing delayed paychecks , including workers at FEMA, the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Approximately 95% of TSA’s 60,000 employees had been working without pay during the shutdown .

Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to more than a dozen major airports across the country to ease long lines, with ICE officers receiving training in nonspecialized screening and taking on TSA duties including checking identification and manning queues .

The political stakes are significant for both leaders heading into midterm elections. The shutdown has highlighted divisions within Republican ranks and deep distrust between the chambers just as party leaders are fighting to showcase a united front .

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer credited Democratic unity for the GOP’s new strategy, saying, “for days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction” .

The path forward remains uncertain. The Senate is expected to take up the DHS bill Thursday morning, with House action to follow at an undetermined time. Johnson hasn’t