Government shutdown live updates as funding fight turns to the House

Rep-elect Christian Menefee won a special election to represent Texas in the House on Saturday and is expected to be sworn in soon, shrinking the Republican majority in the lower chamber. 

Menefee is filling a vacancy left by the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March weeks after taking office. 

The party breakdown in the House currently stands at 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats, with four vacancies. Once Menefee is sworn in, House Speaker Mike Johnson will only be able to lose one vote and still command a majority — making the task of shepherding a funding package and negotiating on DHS funds even more precarious.

In addition to DHS, funding for other major departments and their subagencies has lapsed. They include:

• Defense Department
• State Department
• Department of Labor
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Education
• Department of Transportation
• Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Treasury Department

Several of the departments have notices on their websites about the funding lapse. "Due to a lapse in appropriations, website updates will be limited until full operations resume," the State Department's site says. The Labor Department's homepage includes a notice that "[u]pdates to the site will start again when the Federal government resumes operations."

Beyond the immediate task of funding the government, the approach is also setting up a short timeline to negotiate funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been at the center of the spending fight.

The two-week funding measure for DHS, which Democrats advocated for, means both parties have little time to come to an agreement over how to reform the administration's approach to immigration enforcement.

In the wake of two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis, Democrats have demanded a number of reforms, including an end to roving patrols and tightening of the rules governing the use of warrants, along with requiring ICE to coordinate with state and local law enforcement. They've also demanded a uniform code of conduct and accountability to hold federal agents to the same use-of-force policies as state and local law enforcement and a "masks off, body cameras on" policy for federal agents. 

Republicans had pushed for a longer timeline for negotiations, with up to a six-week continuing resolution for DHS. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters after the Senate approved the funding package last week that it's going to be "really, really hard to get anything done."

"We'll stay hopeful but there are some pretty significant differences of opinion," Thune said.

Johnson appeared more optimistic Sunday that a resolution can be reached in the short timeline.

"I've got to get everybody in a room and work this out. I think we can," Johnson said on "Fox News Sunday."

The speaker outlined that some of the demands Democrats have made are supported by Republicans, like on ending roving patrols and requiring body cameras. But other issues, like requiring federal agents not to wear masks and to identify themselves, would meet opposition. 

"The head of DHS and the head of the operations in Minnesota and the president himself have said that we're close to getting there," Johnson said of negotiations. "We can agree to some of these conditions, because everybody, all the American people, want the law to be enforced and done in a meaningful and efficient and effective way."

House Homeland Security Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, sent a letter to their Democratic colleagues on Sunday urging them to vote against the government funding package that includes a two-week continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security. 

"Democrats must act now to demand real changes that protect our communities before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) receive another dollar in funding," the Democrats wrote in the letter. "This is what our constituents elected us to do — to hold ICE and this administration accountable when they fail to adhere to the Constitution or follow the law."

The Democrats outlined a number of changes they're seeking, including bringing an end to the immigration operation in Minneapolis and clawing back funds ICE and CBP received in President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. They added that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem "must go."

Johnson expressed confidence in a pair of interviews Sunday that the House will pass the funding package to reopen the government by Tuesday, despite a number of hurdles ahead. 

"We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town," Johnson said Sunday on "Meet the Press." "And because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we've got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own."

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said "Republicans are going to do the responsible thing and fund the government." But he acknowledged that he may face some opposition among members of his own party as well.

"I have a lot of conversations to have with individual Republican members over the next 24 hours or so," Johnson said on "Fox News Sunday."

Still, Johnson added, "we'll get all this done by Tuesday, I'm convinced."

"I don't understand why anybody would have a problem with this," Johnson said, noting that the bulk of the funding package has already passed the House. 

Johnson said "we're going to do it again," calling the approval a "formality at this point."

With the House back in Washington, the package will first go to the Rules Committee, which is set to meet Monday afternoon to consider the legislation after Democrats informed GOP leadership that they would not help fast-track the bill. 

Though the Rules Committee route requires a simple majority for passage on the House floor, the legislation will need to pass several procedural hurdles where votes are typically along party-lines. 

First, it's unclear whether the funding package can clear the Rules Committee, where at least one Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, has said he has his own demands for DHS funding. Second, if it advances out of the committee, there are questions about whether Johnson can keep his party united in a procedural vote before final passage. 

On the floor, Johnson can only afford to lose two votes if all members are present and voting. Attendance has already created issues for Republicans this year. 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, has said that she'll withhold her support unless legislation that would require Americans to show proof of citizenship in person to register to vote in federal elections is attached. 

Any changes to the package would require sending it back to the Senate, prolonging the shutdown. 

House Democrats conveyed to GOP leadership over the weekend that they wouldn't provide the votes to help pass the funding package under suspension of the rules — a maneuver that would fast track the legislation's passage. 

"We need a full and complete debate," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNOW Saturday. "And what I've made clear to House Republicans is that they cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a 'my way or the highway' approach."

House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke Saturday, two sources familiar with the conversation confirmed to CBS News.

Johnson acknowledged on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that after his call with Jeffries, he expects Republicans will "probably do this mostly on our own."

The dynamic means Johnson will have to shepherd the legislation through the Rules Committee before it goes to the floor for a simple majority vote. GOP leaders, with a narrow majority in the chamber, must have near unanimous support among Republicans — and could still face hurdles from conservatives on the Rules Committee and otherwise. 

The Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement has been the focus of this funding fight. 

Since the longest shutdown in U.S. history last fall, lawmakers have been working to pass individual spending bills to fund federal agencies through September 2026. Congress has passed six of those bills already, and they have been signed by the president. The other six are the focus of the current funding fight.

While the funding measures had been on track to pass ahead of the deadline earlier this month, the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis changed things for Democrats. They came out fiercely against funding for DHS without further reforms, and in the Senate, Democrats pledged not to provide the votes to move forward on the funding package unless the DHS money was stripped out.

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