House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is striving to transform a deal initiated by President Donald Trump to reopen the federal government, although the odds remain challenging.

With a partial government shutdown in effect, Johnson finds himself in a precarious situation. He must navigate the complexities of a “one-vote margin” while attempting to rally his party to approve a series of funding bills through the House.

In a conversation with NBC’s Meet The Press host Kristen Welker, Johnson recounted being in the Oval Office with the president during a pivotal phone call with Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. They discussed a strategy to push funding measures through the U.S. Senate.

Now, Johnson faces the task of gaining consensus within his party, as both moderate and conservative members may oppose the Senate-approved plan. This plan includes advancing five spending bills for various departments and a temporary two-week funding solution for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The DHS oversees critical agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

During a Sunday interview with Fox News host Shannon Bream, Johnson highlighted his caucus’s support for “body cameras on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.” He noted that $20 million is allocated in the disputed bill, which Democrats are currently opposing, to facilitate this initiative.

However, Democrat demands for unmasking immigration agents and putting names on their uniforms are a harder sell, Johnson argued.

‘When you have people doxing them and targeting them – of course, we don’t want their personal identification out there on the streets,’ Johnson told Bream.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, is operating with ‘a one-vote margin’ amid attempts to unite his party in an effort to pass a slew of funding bills through the House

Masked US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents are seen in Chicago, Illinois, on October 4, 2025

Protestors rally as part of a ‘Nationwide Shutdown’ demonstration against ICE enforcement on January 30, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

‘Those two things are conditions that would create further danger’ Johnson argued, adding that ‘Tom Homan told Leader Schumer himself, I was part of the conversation in the Oval Office a few days ago, he said, ‘That’s the one of the demands that I’m not going to be able to implement. I have to protect my officers.’ 

Homan was dispatched to Minneapolis by Trump following the killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minnesota last week.

During a press Sunday press gaggle at Mar-a-Lago Trump was asked about Border Patrol agents wearing body cameras, to which the President responded: ‘We’ll be talking about that in the near future.’

During a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill, Schumer stated that ‘under President Trump, Secretary Noem and Stephen Miller, ICE has been unleashed without guardrails.’

‘They violate constitutional rights all the time and deliberately refuse to coordinate with state and local law enforcement,’ Schumer argued, seemingly ignoring the fact that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey noted in a post on X that the job of his ‘police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws.’

Still, Schumer rolled out a list of things needed to secure a vote for DHS from members of his caucus, which included a request to ‘end roving patrols,’ ‘masks off, body cameras on,’ and a need to ‘tighten the rules governing the use of warrants and require ICE coordination with state and local law enforcement.’

The latest round of federal funding expired at the end of January.

The Senate voted late Friday to approve five appropriations bills and a continuing resolution funding the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks – a concession to Democrats demanding immigration enforcement reforms and a brushback against President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation tactics.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on February 1, 2026

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat speaks at a press conference with other members of Senate Democratic leadership following a policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 28, 2026

The bill passed by a 71-29 margin, with independent Bernie Sanders and five Republicans – Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Rick Scott – joining 23 Democrats in voting no.

The Departments of Homeland Security, State and Treasury are affected, as well as federal transportation, labor, health, housing and educational programs, along with the IRS and some foreign aid.

The House must approve the new deal, which Johnson does not expect to happen until at least Tuesday.

Democrats and Republicans alike on Capitol Hill have spoken out about the need to rein in the power of President Donald Trump’s DHS.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem herself is on thin ice, as Democrats have called for her to be impeached. Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has attacked Noem, calling her a ‘bureaucratic sycophant.’

‘She is terrifyingly sweet while she is around those she considers her superiors and she sucks up to authority to gain the power she needs to bully those ‘beneath’ her,’ Tillis noted in an X post this week.