The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress are seeking to tell a certain story about what’s going on with the partial government shutdown: That they’re seeking to end the shutdown, that Democrats are standing in the way, and that, therefore, the long lines and other chaos at airports around the country are the fault of the Democrats only.
One Republican U.S. senator appeared to admit that it isn’t quite that neat.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) appeared on Fox News and provided some insight about the negotiations.
“The Democrats have offered to open up everything but ICE,” Kennedy said on Will Cain’s Fox show on Monday night. “Ted [Cruz] and I said, ‘okay, let’s accept their offer.’”
GOP Senator Kennedy admits Trump is the reason for TSA shutdown: “He said said ‘No deals with the Democrats.’ We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week. But the President said ‘No deal.'” pic.twitter.com/7k8P8Xr33H
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 23, 2026
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“At the same time, we would offer a bill for reconciliation where we don’t need any Democratic votes to do whatever we wanted to do with ICE,” Kennedy added. “That way, we’re out of the shutdown, and DHS is back open. Senator Thune submitted that to President Trump, as is his right, he said no. No deals with the Democrats.”
Politico reported, also on Monday, that Republicans believe they may have a path out of the shutdown.
“Their pitch, according to two people with knowledge of it, was to pass a funding bill that would fund all of DHS except specific parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is already funded under last year’s GOP megabill,” Politico reported.
“A second person with knowledge of the discussions also said a new reconciliation bill was a possibility after the White House meeting — though Senate Republicans have been cool to the idea given the uphill climb it would be to unite their members, the House and the White House behind a bill.”
There were some shocked reactions online to what Kennedy said, including from one Democratic senator:
well there you have it https://t.co/yLxNEMxX1F
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 23, 2026
And Gavin Newsom:
The GOP agree — Donald Trump is why TSA is shutdown. https://t.co/wZAwhLELGl
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 24, 2026
And the Fonz:
in his own word s https://t.co/VXZIBqKtTX
— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) March 23, 2026
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
