NEW YORK (AP) — The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was hoisted aloft at its new home in Manhattan on Saturday, marking the start of New York City’s holiday season.
This year's tree is a 75-foot-tall (23-meter-tall) Norway spruce from the upstate town of East Greenbush, a suburb of Albany. After being cut down this week, it made the roughly 150-mile (240-kilometer) journey south on a flatbed truck, drawing curious onlookers along the way.
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The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree arrives at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lifted at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
People view the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree while it's lifted by a crane into place at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lifted by a crane into place at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Workers hold the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree with ropes at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
The crowds were much bigger at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where workers used cranes to hoist the 11-ton tree into position overlooking the iconic skating rink. People gathered with coffee cups and phones as crews secured the spruce and began the careful process of stabilizing it.
The tree will soon be decorated with more than 50,000 multicolored, energy-efficient LED lights and crowned with a Swarovski star weighing 900 pounds (408 kilograms).
It will be lit Dec. 3 during a live TV broadcast hosted by country music star Reba McEntire and remain on display until mid-January, after which it will be milled into lumber for use by the affordable housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity.
The tree was donated by homeowner Judy Russ and her family. She said it was planted by her husband's great-grandparents in the 1920s.
“For this to now become the center of New York City Christmas is incredible,” Russ told the radio station 1010 WINS.
The first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up by workers in 1931 to raise spirits during the Great Depression. The comparatively modest 20-foot (6-meter) balsam fir was outfitted with garlands handmade by the workers' families.
The tradition stuck as the first tree-lighting ceremony was held in 1933.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree arrives at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lifted at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
People view the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree while it's lifted by a crane into place at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lifted by a crane into place at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Workers hold the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree with ropes at Rockefeller Plaza, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan Wednesday to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, moving past a split between the two Republican leaders that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix to a record-setting partial government shutdown.
They said in a joint statement that “in the coming days” Republicans in Congress will return to a Senate plan to fund most of the department through an agreement with Democratic senators, with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans would then try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation.
Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though President Donald Trump has given his support.
“We appreciate and share the President’s determination to once and for all bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown,” said Johnson, R-La., and Thune, R-S.D.
The plan represents a do-over of what senators had in mind when they passed a bipartisan funding agreement through unanimous consent last Friday. The Senate could approve similar legislation as soon as Thursday morning through unanimous consent, but even if that happens, it's unclear how quickly the bill could move through the House. It will likely take several months for Republicans to act on the second part of Trump's plan and pass budgeting legislation to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
House Republicans refused to go along with the Senate plan last week, instead changing the bill to fund all of DHS for 60 days.
As a result, the shutdown continued as lawmakers left for their home states and congressional districts for a two-week recess. The DHS shutdown reached its 47th day on Wednesday.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, "Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction."
The announcement from the GOP leaders showed that for now, Thune and Johnson are on the same page. Their working relationship experienced a rupture late last week when Johnson — at the urging of many House Republicans — rejected Thune’s plan.
The top Republicans hoping the path ahead will win over skeptical GOP colleagues, but the most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding for all of Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.
“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”
It is uncertain whether Johnson could find enough support from the House to recall lawmakers back to Washington before their spring recess ends in mid-April.
Meanwhile, the narrow budget package being prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a away to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to the president’s immigration enforcement agenda.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump weighed in on the shutdown, using a social media post to seemingly call on Republicans to fund the immigration portions of DHS through a bill that would not require Democratic support. He said he wanted the legislation on his desk by June 1.
“We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,” Trump said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries released a statement saying, “It’s time to pay TSA agents, end the airport chaos and fully fund every part of the Department of Homeland Security that does not relate to Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.”
The vast majority of Homeland Security workers continue to report to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have been going without pay. That led to more Transportation Security Administration agents calling out from work, causing frustrating security lines at some of the nation's biggest airports. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay, per an executive order from Trump.
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Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed reporting.
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
