Watch the live broadcast: The Senate returns to the Department of Homeland Security funding bill as the US-Israeli war on Iran escalates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are bringing up the war in Iran and the possibility of retaliatory terrorist attacks as they canvass for votes Thursday on a Department of Homeland Security funding bill.

Watch the Senate live in the video player above.

The House actually approved a Department of Homeland Security spending bill in January, but it stalled in the Senate as Democrats insisted on changes to immigration enforcement operations after the shooting death of ICU nurse Alex Pretty in Minneapolis. As a result, the department’s funding ended on February 14.

He watches: Homeland Security Secretary Noem returns to Capitol Hill for the House Judiciary Hearing

Republicans are calling on Democrats to reconsider their vote in the wake of the conflict in Iran. The House and Senate are expected to hold a vote on the issue.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “The military action in Iran makes it even more urgent and important that the Department of Homeland Security be fully funded and staffed in all its departments.”

However, the GOP strategy does not appear to have changed the position of Democratic lawmakers. They said they were willing to fund most agencies in the department, not just Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.

He watches: Levitt says the Democratic counterproposal on DHS funding is “not very serious.”

“It’s the same lousy, corrupt bill that puts no barriers or restrictions on ICE or CBP after federal agents shoot American citizens in the street,” said Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern.

Workers started losing part of their salaries

After the longest federal shutdown in the nation’s history last year, Congress completed work on 11 of 12 appropriations bills this year. Only the Homeland Security Bill is still pending.

Republicans said the timing couldn’t be worse for the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. While the vast majority of the department’s employees are considered essential and continue to work, many will not receive full pay this week.

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

Republicans said the potential for an increase in unscheduled absences by TSA agents and screeners could lead to longer wait times at the nation’s airports. Meanwhile, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has canceled various assessments to identify vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure. First responder training conducted through the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been cancelled.

“Can’t we understand that America is under siege, and now potentially under attack because radical Islam is under siege, and they will respond, and we sit here looking at each other and we are not funding DHS,” Senator Lindsey Graham said during a hearing on Tuesday that included Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Democrats are seeking several changes at the department including banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations at sensitive sites like schools and churches, allowing independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, requiring judges to sign orders before federal agents can forcefully enter private homes or other non-public places without consent, and requiring agents to wear identification and remove their masks.

Republicans point out that the bill includes a bipartisan provision directing more resources to de-escalation training and $20 million to equip immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras.

Little can be seen from the negotiations

The White House and Democrats in Congress do not appear to have made much progress in recent weeks to resolve their differences after trading several offers.

“Look, we’re still far apart, but we’re negotiating and exchanging papers back and forth,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

He watches: Senator Katie Britt says Trump has the authority to “finish the job” in Iran

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the Republican chair of the committee that oversees Homeland Security funding, said she is talking with Democrats about a possible path forward, but the outlook is unclear.

She and other Republicans cite last weekend’s mass shooting in Austin as an example of the dangerous threat environment facing Americans in the wake of the attack on Iran.

“I think it is highly irresponsible to not fund the agency that is supposed to keep us safe here at home,” Britt said.

Democrats have said they are willing to fully fund all agencies within the department except ICE and CBP.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, authored a proposal to do so, but it was blocked from consideration. She said Republican leadership is using Trump’s “pointless, costly and illegal war with Iran to force more funding for Immigration, Customs and Border Protection without any of the substantive changes the vast majority of Americans believe those agencies need.”

“It’s a cynical effort and it will fail,” DeLauro said.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.