Republican Senators Skip Town as House Revolts Over Shutdown Deal
Senate Republicans appear to be fleeing Washington, D.C., for a two-week vacation without passing Donald Trump’s disastrous SAVE America Act.In the early hours of Friday, Senate Republicans and Democrats finally approved legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security—in part. The agreement did not include funding for ICE and Border Patrol, and omitted the SAVE America Act, Republicans’ legislation for a sweeping election overhaul.The fight for the Senate’s funding bill is far from over, as the legislation heads to the House, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune was spotted speed-walking through the Ronald Reagan National Airport, ready for his two-week Easter vacation.It appears Senate Majority Leader Thune is getting a private escort leaving Ronald Reagan Airport for Easter vacation without passing the SAVE America Act. By the way, FISA Section 702 expires on April 20th. CC: @LeaderJohnThune pic.twitter.com/E8egYUPR72— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 27, 2026When asked by Fox News whether he thought that everything was “resolved,” Thune replied, “Well, we’ll see. We’ve made some temporary headway, but we’ve got a lot of work to do, still.”Senator Marsha Blackburn was also seen walking through the airport, using an escort to shield herself from the cameras, TMZ reported.Senator Marsha Blackburn slinks out of D.C. before the Senate vote. 👀Credit: X/DCCelebrity pic.twitter.com/CPqG0NS3zh— TMZ (@TMZ) March 27, 2026Senator Ted Cruz, who is known for leaving town instead of doing his job, was also spotted flying away from his responsibilities.House Speaker Mike Johnson wouldn’t say whether he’d keep the House in session over the weekend in order to pass the DHS funding agreement, Politico reported. It wasn’t clear that the Louisiana Republican intended to pass it at all, but he agreed to put forward a short-term stopgap bill to fund all of DHS instead, Axios reported. That would require the Senate to vote on the measure again.When asked by Missouri Representative Anne Wagner whether the Senate had confirmed it would come back, Johnson said, “The Senate has gone dark and did not communicate with us.”House Republicans slammed their colleagues in the Senate for not finishing the job. “A bunch of cowards—they didn’t even take a recorded vote,” Representative Austin Scott said of the senators, who approved the funding through a voice vote in a nearly empty chamber at 2:30 a.m. “This is not a done deal.” Some hard-line House Republicans are pushing to add the language for the SAVE America Act back into the bill before sending it back to the Senate—but by then, all they’ll receive are “Out of Office” notes.