Senate Dems block Homeland funding again as airport wait lines soar

Senate Democrats blocked a funding vote for the Department of Homeland Security Friday, which would have provided the department with funding for the rest of the year and comes as wait times for airports soar amid a shortage of TSA workers.

Senate Democrats voted against the funding for the fifth time, which makes the current partial government shutdown tied for the second-longest shutdown in history at 35 days. The vote to invoke cloture on the funding bill failed in a 47-37 split.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune urged Democrats to make a deal that approves funding for the department without major concessions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement reforms, according to Fox News. 

"The question is," Thune said, "[Are] any number of Democrats going to be willing to actually make a deal and have enough respect for the appropriations process and for the job that we have here to keep the government functioning, to step up and do what may be a hard thing, even though their base is, you know, screaming at them to do something else."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.