(CNN) — Donald Trump signed a sprawling spending package into law Tuesday, ending the partial government shutdown after just three days but creating another funding cliff for the Department of Homeland Security in two weeks.
Trump and GOP leaders had pushed hard for their members to fall in line despite their own private grumblings about the bill, eager to avoid a debilitating shutdown like the one that paralyzed Washington for 43 days last fall.
The House earlier Tuesday passed the package in a hard-fought victory for both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had to cajole the fractious GOP conference to back a deal that only temporarily funds DHS and excludes certain conservative priorities.
Both GOP leaders spent the last several days furiously trying to quash a last-minute conservative rebellion, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, over demands for stricter voter ID laws. Luna and others had demanded that a voter ID bill be attached to the funding package — ignoring their party leaders who wanted to punt the issue and avoid a dragged-out funding fight.
Trump personally spoke with Luna and others at the White House, in addition to phoning individual members and dispatching his team to Capitol Hill to help lock down the votes for a swift end to the partial shutdown. GOP leaders have privately tried to assuage conservative holdouts that they would find another way to push for the stricter voter ID bill, while acknowledging it doesn’t have the votes in the Senate.
Rep. Andy Ogles, who withheld his votes because of the voter ID bill, said he didn’t get any commitments from leadership but added, “I think we’re working on a plan.”
For many government agencies, Congress’ spending bill now provides long-awaited certainty after months of contentious funding talks, as well as that lengthy fall shutdown. The bill — which funds three-quarters of government agencies — would slightly reduce Congress’ spending overall, but rejects cuts to programs like the NIH, Pell Grants, and election security grants.
It also funds Trump priorities like a military pay raise and new investments in air safety. And it slashes funding for international aid programs, following the White House’s decision to shutter USAID last year.
But Congress could not agree on a budget for one key department: the Department of Homeland Security.
“The real fight begins over the Homeland bill,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday, previewing the bruising political fight that lies ahead with Democrats over changes to federal immigration enforcement.
Trump had privately agreed to the DHS funding stopgap with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as a way to diffuse the escalating national debate over ICE after the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Trump and Democrats now have two weeks to strike an agreement on how to rein in federal law enforcement, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or face another shutdown for the department that includes agencies from TSA to FEMA.
The-CNN-Wire
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