Trump urging Congress to come back from recess to fund DHS as shutdown drags on, White House says [View all]

Source: ABC News

March 30, 2026, 5:11 PM


President Donald Trump is encouraging Congress to cut short its two-week recess and return to Washington to fund the Department of Homeland Security amid its ongoing partial shutdown, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. Lawmakers left the Capitol last week with no deal to fund the department, extending what is already the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

"Has he told leadership that they should cancel recess and come back?" ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers asked Leavitt during Monday's press briefing.

"He's said it repeatedly," Leavitt said, adding that the president has said "he'll host a big Easter dinner here at the White House if Congress will come back and fight the Democrats on this issue, which we should do, because, again, [the] Democrat Party is in the wrong here."

Although Trump last week publicly called for Congress to cancel recess, he has not publicly called for lawmakers to return to Washington since they left town Friday. ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment on Leavitt's remarks.

Read more: https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-urging-congress-back-recess-fund-dhs-shutdown/story?id=131551734