Congress points fingers as DHS shutdown stretches into day 45

(AP) — For several hours Friday, in the stillness before dawn, the Senate appeared to have finally figured out how to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security before it faced the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history. Senators handed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., their deal and headed for the airports, seemingly confident of success. Then it collapsed. Spectacularly. An incensed Johnson marched out of his office Friday afternoon. He angrily rebuked the plan that the Senate had unanimously agreed to as a “joke.” “I have to protect the House, and I have to protect the American people,” Johnson told reporters. It was a dramatic denunciation of a deal that his counterpart, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had negotiated after weeks of effort, and was the latest abrupt turn in a funding saga that has bedeviled top Republicans for much of the year. The collapse of the deal leaves Congress, now on a two-week spring break, with no easy way out of the impasse that has put DHS into a shutdown since mid-February. It also has exposed a rare rupture between the two Republican leaders in Congress, testing their alliances as they labor to move another set of President Donald Trump's priorities into law before the November elections. READ MORE: https://www.wkyc.com/article/syndication/associatedpress/how-the-homeland-security-deal-unraveled-and-split-republican-leaders-in-congress/616-ef911875-dc55-4793-b273-fccd5210ba3d At 3News, we’re here to share the stories that matter most to you. Share your ideas, thoughts, concerns and engage in conversations about the communities in which we all call home. Follow 3News on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wkyc.channel3/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wkyc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wkyc3/ Visit our site: https://www.wkyc.com/ And be sure to download our app here: https://wkyc.com/app