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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz sounds like he wants to give Democrats exactly what they've been asking for to end the nearly six-week-long, partial government shutdown.
But there's a catch.
A big catch.
On his podcast, Cruz said he and other Republicans should accept the Democrats' offer to fund the entire Department of Homeland Security, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"We should get the Democrats to fund all of DHS except ICE. Carve out ICE," Cruz said on The Verdict.
That might sound like a terrible idea to Republicans who support the immigration enforcement crackdown under President Donald Trump.
But Cruz reminded his audience that, unlike TSA agents and other DHS employees, ICE agents are still getting paid during the shutdown because their funding came from Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, not the usual appropriations process.
And, he said, the Republicans still have a path to fund ICE for the next decade without the need for any negotiation with Democrats.
"So, agree to fund everything except ICE. And then what I urge my colleagues is, if they force us to do that, we should immediately take up a reconciliation bill and fund ICE for the next 10 years," Cruz said. "And what I've advocated for, we should increase ICE's budget by 10%."
Reconciliation is a procedural mechanism that allows the Senate to get around the typical 60-vote threshold on budget bills, meaning they would just need Republicans to stick together.
The first part of the plan could be appealing to Democrats, who've been blaming Republicans for the TSA lines at airports. Just last week, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, said Democrats offered to fund TSA and the Coast Guard, but Republicans kept turning them down because of the fight over ICE funding.
"Before I give billions more to ICE, who already have billions and billions of dollars, we should get the masks off and make them follow warrant requirements," Casar said last week.
But Cruz's proposed follow-up bill using reconciliation would likely leave the party seething.
His plan comes as there was new optimism on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that a deal to end the shutdown could happen before Friday, when Congress goes on break for two weeks heading into Easter.
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Rubén Gallego.
The U.S. Senator from Arizona made his second stop in four weeks to Texas on Monday at a time that chatter about him being a potential presidential contender in 2028 has ramped up. Gallego, a Democrat and former Marine, was in San Antonio talking to veterans about the "stupid war" in Iran and calling President Donald Trump a drama queen. "This country doesn't want more drama; we want steady leadership," he said.
Down: Water.
As Corpus Christi and Pflugerville struggle with their own dwindling water supplies, another Texas town says it's dealing with a shortage — and it blames Corpus Christi. Three Rivers city officials say the rural community 70 miles northwest of Corpus Christi is at risk of losing access to its primary water source — the Choke Canyon Reservoir. The city shares that water source with Corpus Christi, which is drawing more water than usual from the reservoir due to "inaccurate water projections," Three Rivers City officials say.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
 Photo by: Michael Wyke, Associated Press |
Bush Airport TSA lines topped 4 hours Tuesday morning as the partial government shutdown reached day 38. Read More |
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 Photo by: AP |
The upset winner of a special election in a GOP-leaning district was not assigned to any committees of the upper chamber. Read More |
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 Photo by: Reginald Mathalone, NurPhoto Via Getty Images |
State regulators have signed off on SpaceX's plan to expand its Starbase launch site farther into surrounding wetlands, certifying that the project wouldn't harm state waters. Read More |
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 Photo by: Steve Nurenberg, Special Contributor |
Elon Musk's Boring Co. selected a southern Dallas site as one of three winners in its tunneling project competition, narrowing nearly 500 proposals. Read More |
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 Photo by: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer |
Developers of the Colony Ridge subdivision are urging a judge to accept their proposed settlement with state and federal officials, despite objections. Read More |
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Houston Chronicle
Other cities have rodeos, but the 2026 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which ran March 2-22, remains the king when it comes to overall attendance. More than 2.6 million visitors attended the rodeo this year pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy.
What else I'm reading
Vice President JD Vance was in Dallas helping raise money for the Republican National Committee on Tuesday. It comes at a time the RNC is vastly outraising the Democratic National Committee, according to David Wright at CNN. According to Federal Election Commission records, the RNC out-raised the DNC in February, $18.5 million to $10.3 million. And entering March, the RNC reported nearly seven times as much cash on hand, $109 million to $15.9 million.
