By Richard Cowan and David Morgan
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate cleared the way early on Thursday for the House of Representatives to pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill through September 30 that was approved by the Senate late last week and would end a nearly seven-week partial shutdown.
The measure provides no additional funding for immigration law enforcement activities that already are robustly funded.
It was unclear whether the House would quickly take up the legislation at a session that is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking to a near-empty chamber, cleared the way for progress on ending the DHS funding fight by killing a 60-day, stopgap bill that had been passed by the House but had no chance of getting enough support to pass the Senate.
The Senate ignored that bill on Friday and began a recess that telegraphed its opposition to the measure.
Senate and House Republican leaders announced on Wednesday that they had reached a deal to finally end the DHS shutdown. But it was unclear whether House Republican rank-and-file would support that agreement.
House passage of the Senate bill would send it to President Donald Trump for signing into law.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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