Tensions within MAGA are rising after House Republicans rebuked their Senate counterparts for departing Washington, D.C., without resolving the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which has wreaked havoc at airports across the country.
Early Friday morning, the Senate advanced a bill to immediately restore most DHS funding — excluding ICE and border enforcement — before breaking for a two-week recess. Majority Leader John Thune and other GOP senators were later spotted flying out of the capital.
Hours later, however, the House rejected the bipartisan bill, which Speaker Mike Johnson sharply criticized for lacking funding for immigration operations.
“This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson said. “I’m quite convinced that it can’t be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill. We’re not doing that.”
The House instead passed its own stopgap measure to fund DHS at full funding for eight weeks.
A number of other rank-and-file MAGA representatives have since lashed out at their Senate colleagues.
"It is absolutely offensive to the people that we represent that the Senate would send over a bill that doesn't fund Border Patrol and the core components of ICE,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy told reporters on Friday afternoon.
“Could the Senate be any more lazy than to send to us a bill that doesn't do the job and then leave town? So we're going to stand up and say NO to that,” he added. “We're going to send back a bill that's responsible to the American people."
Echoing this sentiment, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds accused the Senate of taking a “vacation” while “purposely” leaving ICE operations unfunded.
Others placed the blame squarely on Thune, who sponsored an amendment to the Senate measure that omitted immigration enforcement appropriations.
“Looks like Leader John Thune is on his way out of town with his private escort,” controversial Florida Rep. Randy Fine wrote on X, posting a video of what appeared to be Thune rolling his luggage past airport security. “This is very disappointing.”
“It is CLEAR that Senate Leadership just wants to derail the Trump Agenda,” Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said in a video posted to social media.
A number of MAGA influencers have also called for Thune — a South Dakota senator who was elected to his leadership position last year — to be removed.
Johnson, however, refrained from criticizing the Senate majority leader, instead pointing the finger at Democrats.
“I wouldn’t call John Thune the engineer of this,” Johnson said on Friday. “[Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate.”
Democrats — who have resisted funding ICE and border operations without major reforms, which they say are necessary to rein in agents’ reckless behavior — appear to be relishing the GOP infighting.
“Democrats are fighting to make life more affordable for the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X. Meanwhile…Unhinged Republicans in the House and Senate are fighting each other.”
With the Senate now in recess, the DHS shutdown, which has dragged on for 43 days, shows no signs of ending in the immediate future.
As a result, roughly 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents have gone unpaid, prompting hundreds to quit and thousands to call out. The staffing shortages have caused long security lines at airports and forced many travelers to miss flights.
At the same time, other agencies under DHS, including FEMA, the Coast Guard and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have been forced to scale back operations or furlough employees.
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