What to know after House passes Homeland Security funding and ends historic shutdown

[0:00] Welcome to the NewsHour. The longest shutdown of a government agency in history has ended with [0:05] President Trump today signing a House-passed bill to fund most of the Homeland Security Department. [0:10] The administration had warned that money to pay thousands of federal security workers would run [0:15] out after today without new funding. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins back with us here [0:20] after spending the day reporting at the Capitol. So Lisa, what finally changed to end this shutdown? [0:25] You know, it was a matter of who changed and that was House Republicans. As we were coming [0:29] into today, there was pressure from President Trump and from House Republican leaders themselves on [0:33] some of their voters and suddenly a rainbow appeared. Amna, as it does, here's exactly what happened. [0:39] The Senate had passed weeks ago repeatedly a DHS funding bill. That bill funds most of DHS except [0:46] for ICE and Border Patrol. House Republicans wanted more of a guarantee that ICE would eventually be [0:51] funded and that process has now started. The ICE funding was in fact a real issue for the GOP, [0:58] but so were internal divisions over how exactly to do this. And, you know, after all the drama, [1:04] I want to peel away the curtain a little bit and I want to show people the actual vote to fund DHS today. [1:09] It was an absurdly easy one. Listen. [1:11] The question is, will the House suspend the rules and recede from the House amendment to the Senate [1:18] amendment and concur in the Senate amendment? All those in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. [1:25] In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds being an affirmative, the rules are suspended. [1:30] Very easy. Why did it take months? There was a real challenge for Speaker Johnson. This was one [1:36] of his toughest weeks yet and he spoke to reporters today. The equations that we solved on legislation [1:42] this week were virtually impossible. Many of you said it couldn't be done, but we got it done because [1:47] ultimately we just used patience and frankly prayer. I don't know anyone who said that exactly, [1:52] but it certainly was a hard task. He has a historically small margin. Absolutely. One [1:57] other thing, Democrats, they triggered this shutdown initially over ICE conduct. They got a lot of [2:02] attention on that, but there were no official changes at this point to ICE conduct. But for DHS [2:07] employees, a massive welcome. Their pay should start flowing and work should resume as normal in the [2:12] next few days. [2:12] There is another self-created deadline looming, rather, that they're dealing with on FISA authority [2:18] as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expires at midnight. What's the latest? [2:22] More rainbows. Actually, just not long ago, the House also passed a short-term extension for FISA. [2:29] This started in the Senate. The Senate passed around lunchtime today a 45-day extension, [2:34] daring the House essentially to block it. This important foreign surveillance powers where the U.S. [2:40] can get wiretaps on foreign actors. There are warrant concerns. So this 45-day sort of punt [2:46] buys time for reformers to negotiate over their issues. So that problem now solved for the time. [2:54] But I want to raise something else that happened in a blink-and-you-might-miss-it vote. The Senate [2:58] also today very quickly passed a rule so that senators themselves can no longer vote on or no longer [3:04] bet on places like Polly Market, none of these sort of prediction markets. And we expect the House to do [3:09] the same. Meanwhile, President Trump withdrew his, some say, controversial pick to be Surgeon General. [3:15] That's Casey Means. What can you tell us about that? [3:17] Quite a lot of news today. Means is someone who's known well within Secretary Kennedy's [3:22] Maha movement. She has a massive social following, social media following. Often she says, [3:28] we rely too much on pills and doctors and we need to change our health and lifestyle, our diet, [3:33] those kinds of things. But there were a lot of questions about her during her confirmation [3:37] hearing with senators, some about her experience. She does not have a current medical doctor's [3:41] license, for example, but also about how she answered questions on vaccines. So her supporters [3:47] say she's been triggered unfair or targeted unfairly, but she doesn't have the votes to get out of [3:52] committee. And that just is a matter of fact. So the president is pulling her nomination. Instead, [3:57] who is he nominating? This is Dr. Nicole Sapphire. She is the director of the breast imaging center [4:03] at Sloan Kettering Monmouth. You may recognize her because she's frequently been a medical [4:07] contributor at Fox News. We do not know a lot about her sort of larger health viewpoints, [4:13] but no doubt we will as her nomination moves forward. [4:16] Lisa Desjardins kicking off our coverage tonight. Lisa, thank you. [4:19] You're welcome. [4:31] Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. Donate now or even better, [4:37] start a monthly contribution today.