Congress is one day closer to a possible government shutdown as the Senate scrambles to negotiate on a must-pass funding bill by Friday.
Democrats had seemed poised last week to support the $1.3 trillion spending package, a bundle of six bills that would fund much of the government. But they changed course after federal immigration enforcement agents shot and killed a Minneapolis nurse who was opposing their efforts.
Now, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats will block the funding package unless the Department of Homeland Security bill – which includes money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE – is stripped out and renegotiated. Most of the government will shut down if the package does not pass by midnight Friday.
Why We Wrote This
Democrats in Congress had planned to support funding to avert another government shutdown. They changed course after federal agents killed a second person opposing immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, and now say securing Department of Homeland Security reforms is worth the price of a shutdown.
As senators returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday, Democratic leadership has indicated it’s willing to endure a government shutdown to get reforms on immigration enforcement.
Democrats are reportedly discussing demands that include requiring warrants for ICE officers and Border Patrol agents to make arrests, and mandating that federal agents identify themselves.
“What we pass has to be impactful, and it has to stop the worst of what we’re seeing,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Republican senators need at least seven Democratic votes to pass the package. Even if Democrats block the $10 billion in congressionally appropriated funding for ICE in the DHS bill, however, ICE was already given an additional $75 billion in funding over four years, via the Republicans’ tax-and-spending bill last year, which would allow immigration enforcement operations to continue largely unimpeded.
Multiple congressional Republicans have expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in Minnesota, with a growing number calling for full investigations into the deaths of two people who were opposing immigration enforcement action: Renee Good, shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti, shot by Border Patrol agents, last weekend. Two Republican senators, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, called for the removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, with Senator Tillis telling reporters that “she needs to go.” Republican chairs of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees have announced upcoming hearings with the heads of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
But GOP leaders are opposed to changing the DHS bill.
“I think there’s a real desire not to have a shutdown,” Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota told reporters.
Republicans have expressed a range of reactions to the Democrats’ demands. Senator Tillis told reporters he wouldn’t have a problem with splitting off DHS funding if a stopgap measure were in place while the bill is negotiated.
Several Republicans have floated options that would keep the legislative package on track while addressing Democrats’ demands in other ways, such as having the Trump administration take executive action. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine expressed hope Monday that members could come together “in a constructive way to get this done.”
Others are taking a harder line: Utah Sen. Mike Lee has vowed to oppose any effort to defund DHS. Senator Rounds emphasizes what he sees as the White House’s role, saying, “I don’t think any of us want to get ahead of the president,” when discussing funding options.
Democrats, meanwhile, say they do not trust the Trump administration and will accept nothing less than a serious rewrite of the DHS bill that creates new safeguards around ICE operations.
Any changes to the current funding package would require approval from the House of Representatives, which is in recess this week. House Speaker Mike Johnson could choose to bring members back to vote before the Friday deadline, but has not indicated he will do so.
A careful line to walk
A partial shutdown would mean that multiple agencies, including the Departments of Education and Transportation, will shutter all but essential operations. Even if Congress manages to pass the rest of the package but holds off on the DHS bill, Americans could see effects in their daily lives.
DHS is home to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which helps respond to natural disasters like the winter storm that swept across much of the country last weekend. It also houses the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, meaning that an extended shutdown could result in flight delays.
It’s a tricky political calculus for Democrats. They’re facing immense pressure after the second shooting last weekend sparked outrage across the country. A Jan. 26 YouGov poll of U.S. adults showed 68% of Democrats and 41% of independents want Democrats in Congress to hold out for DHS funding cuts before agreeing to a spending bill to avert a government shutdown.
“I’ve just come back from Connecticut,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the Monitor, referencing his home state. “And for the last three days, people have said to me nonstop that something must be done” to rein in immigration enforcement.
While some Democrats acknowledge ICE will still have money to operate even if the current funding bill doesn’t pass, they say recent events highlight the importance of imposing stricter safeguards.
“We need to try to break [the DHS bill] out to force Republicans to help us restrain ICE and put in all of the basic commonsense guardrails that should be there,” Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told the Monitor.
Democrats are showing notable unity on this issue. During the last shutdown, Senator Schumer came under sharp criticism within his caucus after seven Senate Democrats and one independent broke ranks after 43 days and voted to reopen the government without a deal to extend expiring health care subsidies.
Now, nearly all of the Democrats who voted to reopen the government have said they will not vote for the DHS funding. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is the only Democrat to say that while he supports stripping the DHS funding from the spending package, he “will never vote to shut our government down.” He has, however, called for DHS Secretary Noem to be fired.
But the recent shooting seems to have galvanized even moderate party members. Rep. Tom Suozzi, one of seven House Democrats who voted to pass the DHS funding in his chamber last week, apologized in a statement Monday, saying he “failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis.”
Editor’s note: An ICE officer shot Renee Good; Border Patrol agents shot Alex Pretti. A line in the original version of this story named the wrong agency in the Pretti shooting. The story has been updated.