WATCH LIVE: Senate meets to consider DHS funding to end shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators met behind closed doors Thursday with White House border coordinator Tom Homan, a small sign of progress as lawmakers look to end a Department of Homeland Security shutdown that began more than a month ago.

The Senate reconvenes at 12 noon EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.

Funding for the department expired on February 14, as Democrats refused to fund ICE as well as Customs and Border Protection without making changes to their operations in the wake of the deaths of Alex Peretti and Renee Judd in Minneapolis.

Read more: Mullen, nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, offers a different vision for FEMA than his predecessor Noem.

Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, said the next step in resolving the impasse would be another counteroffer from the White House, after which lawmakers would regroup. Other senators at the meeting included senior appropriators on both sides of the political aisle. They noted that the two sides are still far apart, but at least they are talking.

The talks come at a time of heightened tension at the nation’s airports, with some reporting long lines at screening stations as unpaid TSA agents plead with sick people. Transport Minister Sean Duffy said the problem was likely to worsen next week without resolution.

“The airport lines you see now are child’s play compared to what you’ll see next week if TSA misses another paycheck!” Duffy said in a social media post on X.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he viewed Thursday’s meeting as an important step.

“We’ve been encouraging this for a while, and we’re glad to see both sides sitting down,” Thune said. “I think having Homan here as part of that is a really big deal and an acknowledgment that we need to solve this.”

Read more: Mullen, Trump’s security pick, is poised to inherit a challenging Department of Homeland Security

Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to be out of Washington for the first two weeks of April, and Thune warned that those plans would be in jeopardy if the shutdown is not resolved by the end of next week.

“I can’t see us taking a break if the government remains closed,” Thune said.

Key lawmakers say challenges remain

Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently said the White House needed to be directly involved in the talks to make progress.

The representative from Washington State said as she left the meeting: “I am happy that the White House is here, but there is still a long distance between us.”

Senator Susan Collins, Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Democrats’ demands make negotiations difficult.

Read more: How the Department of Homeland Security shutdown affects travel in the United States

“Unfortunately, the Democrats’ list of demands continues to grow and grow,” the Maine state representative said. “But the group that was there was working in good faith, and I hope we can meet again very soon.”

Democrats have called for a host of policy changes that include requiring ICE agents to obtain a warrant from a judge before forcibly entering homes, requiring clear identification on uniforms and the removal of masks, mandating the use of body-worn cameras, allowing independent investigations into misconduct and banning operations at sensitive sites such as schools, churches and polling places.

Thousands work without pay

The vast majority of DHS workers are considered essential and continue to work during the shutdown. But more than 120,000 of them work without pay. It follows a 43-day shutdown last fall, during which some federal employees went to food banks to make ends meet.

Democrats made another attempt Thursday to fund most agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, but not ICE and CBP. Republicans blocked this measure, insisting that the ministry be gradually defunded.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said lawmakers are no closer to reaching an agreement on ICE, so it must fund the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, among others.

“All we ask is for the hostages to be released,” Schatz said.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, said the best course is to reach a compromise on ICE.

“We’re not just going to defund ICE and never restart it, so ICE agents quit because they’re not getting paid and it’s been going on for too long,” Lankford said. “We need to actually resolve differences.”

Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.