WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan Wednesday to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security as part of a two-step process, returning to a Senate proposal that funds most of DHS except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans would later try to fund ICE and Border Patrol through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.

The Senate was expected to try to quickly pass the measure on Thursday during an early pro-forma session. Senators could take up the bill passed last week through a unanimous consent request, allowing it to pass if no senator objects. Pro-forma sessions generally last just a few minutes, as the vast majority of senators are not present. The Senate's action would send the bill back to the House, which was also holding a pro-forma session later in the morning.

"We appreciate and share the President's determination to once and for all bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown," Johnson said in a joint statement with Thune. Neither outcome of the proposal is guaranteed, and the strategy could face opposition from members of the Republican Party. House Republicans refused last week to go along with the Senate proposal and instead changed the bill to fund all of DHS for 60 days.

The DHS shutdown reached its 47th day on Wednesday, the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. Many thousands of DHS employees have gone without pay during the shutdown, though the vast majority have continued to report to work.

Increased absenteeism among Transportation Security Administration agents caused lengthy security lines at some of the nation's largest airports during the shutdown. TSA agents began receiving back pay under an executive order from the president, and security lines at many of the nation's busiest airports began to clear.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, "It's time to pay TSA agents, end the airport chaos and fully fund every part of the Department of Homeland Security that does not relate to Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine."