Axios Hill Leaders

April 17, 2026
š„³ Happy Friday! Today's edition is 515 words, 2 minutes.
- š Shutdown endgame
- š Johnson boxed in
1 big thing: š Shutdown endgame
Expect a few plot twists, but Senate GOP leaders are confident they can pass a budget resolution to fund ICE and the Border Patrol by the end of next week.
Why it matters: As the House struggles to resolve its internal divisions on FISA, the Senate is moving ahead on a separate track ā advancing a budget resolution to fund immigration enforcement, with a "vote-a-rama" as early as Wednesday.
- Once the Senate passes a budget resolution, the DHS funding fight will shift back to the House.
- Speaker Mike Johnson could try to pass the non-immigration portions of DHS funding, which cleared the Senate two weeks ago.
- Or he could wait for the Senate to pass a broader reconciliation package, expected to include from $65 billion to $75 billion for three and a half years of funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
Zoom in: Republicans still need to work out the size and scope of the package ā and whether it needs to be paid for.
- "We need to do a much broader reconciliation," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a video posted to X, repeating an argument he made behind closed doors this week.
- "Let's not think small. Let's think big."
- "There needs to be a price. What was the price for Elizabeth Warren and the radical Democrats for shutting down the government? Congratulations, guys: You just increased ICE by 10%," Cruz added.
Zoom out: If the House falters on extending FISA beyond the current 10-day reprieve, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is prepared to act with a three-year extension.
- "We've just got to have optionality here," Thune said today.
- And on the budget resolution he is committed to a "skinny" approach ā and he has the president's backing.
The bottom line: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told reporters he "would love to see how we can pay for this," but he ultimately expects a resolution to pass.
- "I think all amendments are always hard," he said. "But you have a right to do it, and you've got a right to try to be convincing. We'll see how good I am."
ā Hans Nichols
2. š Johnson boxed in
Johnson hit a wall he couldn't scale last night when a broad coalition of House Republicans blocked him on a FISA extension.
Why it matters: The Senate bailed Johnson out by voice-voting an emergency short-term extension. But Johnson has more than two dozen Republicans to flip.
- Opposition came from both conservatives ā who want stricter warrant requirements on the surveillance authority ā and Republicans who favored a clean extension.
The big picture: Johnson has repeatedly held votes open and endured plenty of drama ā sometimes calling in help from President Trump ā to pass tough votes despite vocal conservative opposition.
- Last night's last-minute negotiations and late-night vote doomed the deal, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who voted against the rule, told us.
The bottom line: Giving too much ground on warrants risks losing intelligence hawks. Giving too little could lose privacy-minded conservatives.
ā Kate Santaliz
This newsletter was edited by Justin Green and copy edited by Brad Bonhall.
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