Democrats and the White House are working to negotiate a government funding deal less than 36 hours before most of the federal government is set to shut down, with Democrats demanding measures to rein in the Department of Homeland Security after immigration agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The Senate voted Thursday to block a government funding package that includes money for DHS and other agencies such as the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. Every Democrat voted no, along with eight Republicans. The measure got 45 votes, and would have needed 60 to advance.
Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to break off DHS funding from a larger funding bill as they push for new restrictions on federal immigration enforcement. President Donald Trump and senators in both parties expressed optimism Thursday that a deal was within reach, even if it might not come soon enough to avoid a short partial shutdown.
“Hopefully, we won’t have a shutdown, and we’re working on that right now. I think we’re getting close,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting Thursday morning. “The Democrats I don’t believe want to see it either. So we’ll work in a very bipartisan way, I believe, not to have a shutdown. We don’t want to shut down.”
Negotiators are trying to find consensus on the length of a temporary funding extension that could keep DHS open until the two parties negotiate new restrictions that Democrats have demanded.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said Republicans want such a bill to fund the agency for at least four weeks. But Democrats think two weeks is sufficient, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) said.
“People are getting killed in Minneapolis,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told reporters. “We need to show some urgency about fixing the problem.”
Republicans say they will offer a counterproposal to the three demands Democrats unveiled Wednesday, but say they’re focusing first on finding a way to separate the Homeland Security bill from legislation to fund the rest of the government and buy time to discuss policy changes.
“We’re going to land this plane, and then we’re going to figure that out,” said Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Alabama).
A partial government shutdown is still likely to begin this weekend even if Democrats and the White House strike a deal, because the House would need to pass the funding package again if the Senate reworks it. The House is not set to return to Washington until Monday. Senate Democrats have rejected Republican proposals to address their demands through an executive order or separate legislation, which would not require the existing measure to go back through the House.
Getting any agreement through the narrowly divided House will be challenging for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), as conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus have already said they would oppose changes to the existing bill, and it’s unclear if enough House Democrats would support an agreement that extends Homeland Security funding, even temporarily.
House Republicans will likely only have a one-vote majority margin when they return to the Capitol next week, after a Democrat is expected to win a special election in Texas this weekend.
“We’re talking, but I can’t assess how they might try to get it across the finish line,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said of Johnson. “Obviously that’s a complicating factor for them. But like I said yesterday, we are where we are.”
The funding package covers most discretionary federal spending: It would fund the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Transportation and State.
Without additional appropriations, all government functions in those agencies that aren’t considered necessary to protect life, property or national security would stop, and many workers would have to continue on the job unpaid, as they did during last fall’s long shutdown. But many of the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts would continue due to an influx of funding from the GOP tax and spending law passed last year.
The funding measure was negotiated between Republicans and Democrats before last weekend’s shooting in Minneapolis. It includes $64.4 billion for DHS, including $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, similar to existing funding levels. It includes limited restrictions on the agency, including a decrease in detention beds, reduced funding for Border Patrol and for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, and $20 million for body cameras for ICE and Border Patrol agents. It does not include other changes that Democrats had sought, including prohibitions on ICE agents from shooting at moving vehicles or detaining U.S. citizens.
When the bill was unveiled early last week, some Democrats argued that it was necessary to fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and other agencies even though it did not do enough to rein in federal immigration agents.
But after agents killed Pretti, even lawmakers who had written the measure said they would oppose it. Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that she wouldn’t vote for the bill without changes and that “there must be accountability” for Pretti’s killing.
Some Democrats opposed the bill even before Pretti’s death, which convinced most of the rest of the party to come out against it. If all Republicans supported the funding package, they would need at least seven Senate Democrats to back it to overcome the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) on Wednesday demanded Republicans agree to a set of changes to the DHS bill to earn Democrats’ support: end “roving patrols” by requiring warrants in some cases and requiring ICE to coordinate with state and local law enforcement; create a uniform code of conduct for agents and use independent investigations to enforce it; and require agents to wear body cameras and to not wear masks.
Senate Republicans are more open to some of Democrats’ demands than they were ahead of the government shutdown last fall. Many agree there should be additional oversight after federal immigration officials’ aggressive actions against U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged Democrats ahead of the vote to allow the bill to advance. But Murray said she would vote against taking up the bill while negotiations with the White House continue.
“While I am very glad to see that the White House and Republicans are now talking with Democrats to finalize a plan to pass the five bills and split off DHS, until that deal is finalized, I will be a no on this vote,” Murray said on the Senate floor before the vote.
House Democrats have said they support splitting the package, signaling many would help pass the five noncontroversial appropriations bills as they did last week, according to several people familiar with a caucus call Wednesday night who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.
House Democrats may help support a short-term DHS funding bill if there are genuine bipartisan discussions for policy reforms that rein in ICE in the coming weeks, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told a news conference Thursday. But he added that Democrats are unlikely to support a blanket extension if Senate Republicans are promising to eventually negotiate a compromise.
“We’ll evaluate whatever is sent to us, and if we’re on a path toward dramatic, immediate, transformative change, then I’m sure that will be a part of what heavily weighs into our discussion,” Jeffries told reporters.
Matt Viser, Kadia Goba and Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.
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