One attribute President Donald Trump brought to the presidency was his reputation as a dealmaker. But in his relationships with Congress, he has been more deal killer than dealmaker. That’s been evident in the current, weeks-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Not only has Trump made no effort to use his presidential powers to help settle the impasse, but, on two occasions, ...

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C..

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One attribute President Donald Trump brought to the presidency was his reputation as a dealmaker. But in his relationships with Congress, he has been more deal killer than dealmaker.

That’s been evident in the current, weeks-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Not only has Trump made no effort to use his presidential powers to help settle the impasse, but, on two occasions, he blocked possible solutions.

Meanwhile, he has sought, without success, to leverage the impasse to pass a stalemated Republican elections bill that would impose questionable new voter registration requirements for this fall’s congressional elections.

The result has been the disruption of vital government services, and inconvenience for millions of air travelers. Meanwhile, both sides have played a lot of meaningless politics, futilely seeking an advantage.

To be sure, the underlying problem is the increasing inability of Congress to perform its constitutional functions, from funding the government to declaring war. Republicans hold tenuous margins in both houses, but don’t have enough votes in the Senate to act without some Democratic support.

As a result, Senate Democrats seeking to curb immigration agents after the highly publicized violations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have succeeded in delaying funding for the entire department, which also provides disaster relief and runs the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at airports and borders.

In such a situation, a president can play a positive role by bringing the two sides together, either suggesting a solution or putting them in a room to reach one. Having covered Congress in the long ago 1960s when Lyndon Johnson was president, I can’t imagine LBJ letting such a deadlock persist without actively trying to settle it.

But Trump has little use for Congress – except to ratify his proposals. He prefers to issue executive orders and hope the courts will sustain them.

He has rarely made legislative proposals as prior presidents regularly did, his budgets are widely ignored, and his major legislative achievements – a 2017 tax cut and last year’s Big Beautiful Bill of tax and budget cuts – were primarily devised by GOP lawmakers with his acquiescence.

And Trump ignored Congress in launching foreign military actions, like the ones in Venezuela and Iran – until he needed funds to pay for them.

In the current impasse, rather than seek a solution, he has sought to exacerbate partisan tensions. He sought to force his GOP allies into a quixotic effort to enact a stillborn Republican elections bill, his latest effort to change the rules to prevent his party’s impending defeat in November’s elections.

And when Senate GOP leaders twice proposed compromise resolutions, he rejected them, pushing alternatives for which Republicans lacked the votes.

The first such attempt came about 10 days ago. As initially reported by Punchbowl News, Senate Majority Leader John Thune approached Trump with a proposal backed not only by his colleagues but some White House aides.

According to Punchbowl, Thune said Senate Republicans would support funding all of DHS, except ICE, the agency at the center of the dispute. ICE already has substantial funds from the Big Beautiful Bill, and Thune said additional funding would come in a later measure to be considered under budget rules that don’t require Democratic support.

That would block Democratic demands to ban masks for federal agents and require judicial warrants — and pay the DHS employees, including TSA agents.

But Trump rejected Thune’s plan, insisting lawmakers stay in Washington over their planned Easter recess to keep fighting for the GOP voting plan, though it lacks the votes to pass the Senate.

“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. He renewed his demand that GOP senators scrap the filibuster rules that require 60 votes for most legislation, something Thune has repeatedly rejected.

Trump then ordered ICE agents to patrol the passenger-clogged airports, something that got headlines but did little to relieve the problems there.

Some Republicans talked of appeasing Trump by including a form of the elections bill in the later measure with ICE funds. But others noted budget rules preclude any measure that doesn’t change federal revenues or spending.

With the Easter recess fast approaching, Senate Republicans renewed their plan to fund the entire department -- except ICE and the Border Patrol – and do that in an unspecified later measure. In the early morning hours last Friday, the Senate passed it unanimously and left for the recess.

Their measure did not include the stricter requirements for agents that the Democrats had demanded, but they hailed the exclusion of ICE and Border Patrol funds, though neither agency will lack funds.

That bill would have passed the House and settled the impasse, had GOP leaders allowed a vote.

But Trump rejected the compromise. House Republicans drafted and passed their own bill, funding the entire department including the two agencies for 60 days and leaving the two houses in recess, after backing contrary measures.

Speaker Mike Johnson said he spoke to Trump, and he “understands exactly what we’re doing and why.”

Meanwhile, Trump announced he would tap emergency funds to pay the TSA agents. He again demanded congressional action but did nothing tangible to end the deadlock, having proven once again to be more deal killer than dealmaker.

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