India, March 28 -- In a stunning escalation of political brinkmanship, the US House of Representatives has passed a short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), effectively rejecting a bipartisan Senate deal and pushing an already chaotic government shutdown deeper into crisis.

The move, driven by House Republicans, has intensified a 42-day shutdown that has crippled airport operations, left tens of thousands of federal workers unpaid, and exposed deep fractures within Washington's power structure. What was once a policy dispute over immigration enforcement has now spiraled into a full-blown institutional breakdown.

Late Friday, House lawmakers narrowly approved a stopgap measure designed to fund DHS through Ma...