U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) doesn’t want Congress to make a deal to end the partial government shutdown until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is fully funded.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains unfunded as Democrats demand major reforms to ICE.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have publicly agreed to a deal to end the shutdown through funding ICE and Border Patrol through a GOP-only reconciliation bill later down the line.

Moore, who is also a candidate for the U.S. Senate, told WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Wednesday that conservatives in Congress want that order reversed, calling on Congress to pass the reconciliation package first.

“[S]o we’re looking now at a reconciliation process, and I think we can get some of the SAVE AMERICA Act as well as funding for CBP and ICE,” he explained. “I think that needs to be the first step in the process before we pass the remaining [appropriation bill] on DHS, just to make sure that the parliamentarian in the Senate doesn’t say, ‘Oh. No, no, you’re not going to be able to do this through reconciliation.’”

This approach would put him and other conservatives at odds with Speaker Johnson, but Moore believes it’s the best approach.

“Many of us conservatives think that we need to do the reconciliation first, so that the Senate parliamentarian doesn’t say this doesn’t pass the Byrd Rule, and then we would lose the funding that we need through reconciliation for DHS as far as CBP and ICE,” he said. “And so I think that’s the process we need to go through. Many of us have said that to the Speaker, and that’s kind of where we that’s kind of what we feel we need to do.”

A similar idea was announced by the House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday. The group called to fund all of DHS through the reconciliation bill, rejecting leadership’s two-step plan.

Whatever deal is potentially reached, Moore said the Democrats are responsible for the current shutdown.

“I just can’t believe that the Democrats seriously want to just open the American borders again and allow what has continued under the Biden administration to continue under the Trump administration,” he argued. “We simply will not allow that to happen.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee