The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than 70 days and with Congress seemingly at an impasse on a series of contentious topics, and there’s no quick end to the funding lapse on the horizon.
As the House spun its wheels on Tuesday, some turned to a higher power.
“I have a copy of the serenity prayer here,” said House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., kicking off a Tuesday afternoon hearing. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, the wisdom to know the differences.”
The congressional to-do list is long. In addition to DHS funding, it includes thorny legislation like the reauthorization of a controversial foreign surveillance program that expires at the end of April, a bill that sets agricultural and food policies and a budget measure on Republican immigration priorities that some hope will pave the way to ending the partial government shutdown.
Congress, while rife with dysfunction, is in short supply of time. Both chambers are slated to take a weeklong break starting Friday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April that he said would authorize paying all DHS employees during the shutdown. But that emergency funding could dry up by May 1, according to Trump administration officials.
