AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Department of Homeland Security has now been without funding for 38 days. Travelers are waiting in security lines for hours at some airports as unpaid TSA officers call off work.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Without a fix before members of Congress leave town for a scheduled recess at the end of this week, it could end up being the longest federal funding lapse in U.S. history.
CHANG: All of this as the Senate votes tonight to confirm Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as the next secretary of Homeland Security. NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas has been tracking this story and joins us now from Capitol Hill. Hi, Sam.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK. Let's start with how some Americans are actually experiencing this partial shutdown at the airports. Like, what have you been hearing and seeing? Tell us.
GRINGLAS: Ailsa, one factor that determines how long a shutdown lasts - as you know - is how much people actually feel the pain of it.
CHANG: Oh, yeah.
GRINGLAS: And if you're catching a flight this week, it is going to be hard not to notice. I used to live in Atlanta, and I saw dozens of posts this morning from Hartsfield-Jackson Airport where security lines were taking hours, even stretching outside. President Trump has dispatched ICE officers to help at some major airports, but what they can do to actually assist TSA is pretty limited.
CHANG: Right. So frustrating. I mean, this agency has been without funding right now because, well, Democrats want reforms to the way ICE conducts immigration enforcement. So let's talk about that. Have you seen any signs of progress on that front?
GRINGLAS: You know, at the end of last week, it looked like talks were picking up steam. Senate Democrats were actually meeting with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, even as the White House remained opposed to two key elements from Democrats, requiring judicial warrants for immigration agents and prohibiting officers from wearing masks. But the gulf between the White House and Democrats got even bigger in the last day or so, because President Trump is insisting that any DHS funding deal must be stuck together with the voting law overhaul he's been pushing known as the SAVE America Act.
CHANG: Yeah. OK, remind us what is in that bill, and why has it become such a sticking point here?
GRINGLAS: The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, like a valid U.S. passport or a birth certificate plus photo ID, and it would require photo ID to cast a ballot, including to vote by mail. Trump has continued to amplify false claims about widespread noncitizen voting, and this was his message to senators today.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You don't have to take a fast vote. Don't worry about Easter - going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus, OK?
GRINGLAS: Trump is making this argument that proof of citizenship is homeland security, and so that's why the voting bill and DHS funding should be - in his words - welded together.
CHANG: OK. Talk more about that, this idea to weld these two things together.
GRINGLAS: Well, Trump says there is one way that Senate Republicans can get this all done.
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TRUMP: You could get rid of the filibuster. It would be great. It would be great. Get rid of the filibuster and get it all done.
CHANG: OK.
GRINGLAS: But the reality is that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said no way to this.
CHANG: Yeah.
GRINGLAS: And even without the filibuster, it is not clear that Republicans would have the votes. Last week, on the floor, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska used this huge map of her state to show how some constituents would have to hop on flights just to register.
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LISA MURKOWSKI: These are people who are eligible to vote. They're citizens of our country. But if they're looking at a situation where I'm going to have to spend a thousand dollars to get me to where I can present my documentation, they're not going do it.
GRINGLAS: And Murkowski is not the only Senate Republican who is opposed here.
CHANG: OK. Well, inheriting this impasse over DHS will, of course, be Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. He's President Trump's pick to lead the department after he fired Kristi Noem from that position. Do you think new leadership will change the dynamic in any way, Sam?
GRINGLAS: That could be one benefit of elevating a member of the Senate here. Many of Mullin's colleagues do see him as someone they can work with, even a couple Democrats. But most are still opposed - Democrats - to Mullin's nomination, and it's unclear to what extent he even could step in to help broker a funding deal when Trump clearly has his own thoughts on how this should all play out.
CHANG: So how might this play out, you think?
GRINGLAS: Well, one variable is whether Trump continues to insist these be tied together. What we do know, though, is that after this week, the full Congress is not scheduled to be back until April 13. So this partial shutdown will stretch on if a deal is not done this week.
CHANG: That is NPR's Sam Gringlas. Thank you, Sam.
GRINGLAS: Thanks, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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