GOP infighting heats up as lawmakers battle over key policy

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), with Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 17, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

In 2026 alone, the United States has faced two partial shutdowns of the federal government: a brief shutdown in late January/early February, and a much longer one that has been going on since Valentine's Day. Both of them followed an October/November 2025 shutdown.

The current shutdown involves funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Many Democratic lawmakers are happy to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) but not U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), both of which fall under the DHS umbrella.

But the clashes over DHS funding within Congress go beyond Democrats versus Republicans. In an article published on Tuesday, April 7, The Hill's Emily Brooks details the infighting taking place among GOP lawmakers over DHS funding.

The far-right House Freedom Caucus took a hardline position in an April 7 post on X, formerly Twitter, calling for aggressive funding of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

"We cannot leave ICE and CBP hanging with nothing but hopes and prayers that reconciliation 2.0 comes together," the Freedom Caucus tweeted. "That's why we must use reconciliation to fully fund ALL of the Department of Homeland Security! We can tightly control this process with strict instructions to the various committees involved, so no one can sneak in unrelated garbage and distract us from our mission. We must provide robust funding for ICE and CBP, and it should be done with all of DHS in reconciliation 2.0. We can fund DHS for the rest of the President's term to ensure Democrats can never again take our nation's security hostage. We will never hand Democrats their ultimate prize: A defunded ICE, handcuffed CBP, and criminal aliens terrorizing our communities."

But not all GOP lawmakers are on board with the Freedom Caucus. Others are joining Democrats in calling for DHS spending bills that separate funding for ICE and TSA.

"(House Speaker Mike) Johnson, last week, joined with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and President Trump to publicly back the two-step plan that separates funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol due to Democrats refusing to vote for such funding without reforms to immigration enforcement practices," Brooks reports. "But House Republicans, including those beyond the Freedom Caucus, fumed at the plan on a private conference call last week, demanding to pass a reconciliation bill to address immigration and border security before agreeing to pass funding for the rest of DHS."

Brooks continues, "Trump said he wanted to see the immigration enforcement funding passed by June 1. Thune, last week, said he would want to keep that bill as narrow as possible in order to meet that deadline.

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